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KNOWLSON & MULLER 
EAGLE BUILDING, BROOKLYN, N. Y. 

PUBLISHERS. 



LIBRARY of CONGRESS 
Twu OoDies Received 

MAh 19 1B09 

CLASS :^ XXc. No. 



^ FISHING 



AROUND NEW YORK 



WHERE TO FIND THEM 

HOW TO RIG 
HOW TO CATCH THEM 



CHART OF HOOKS SHOWING 
EXACT SIZES TO USE ETC. 

BY 

J. W. MULLER 
ARTHUR KNOWLSON. Collaborator 



CONTENTS 

Preface — next page — Read it 

Blackfish 51 Lafayette 13 Striped Bass .... 41 

Bluefish 45 Ling 10 Tom Cod 3 

Codfish 5 Pollack 7 Weakfish 33 

Eel 16 Porgy 11 Whiting 9 

Flounder 21 Red Drum 28 

Fluke 29 Sea Bass 25 Baits 61 

Hake 10 Sheepshead 19 Fish Facts 58 

Herring 20 Smelt 18 Sinkers 57 

Kingfish 15 Snapper 45 Swivels 56 

Hook Chart in back 



PRTPPr PAPER COVER - - 25 CENTS 

rKlV>ll. - FLEXIBLE LEATHER - 50 CENTS 

Copyright igog by Knowlson & Muller 

KNOWLSON AND MULLER 
EAGLE BUILDING - BROOKLYN, N. Y. 



pDC'C' A/^pr No man knows all there is to know about fish- 

ing. No man ever did know it, since the day 
of the first hairy man who caught the first fish w^ith his tough 
hands. Let us hope that no man ever w^ill know it all. 

^ If a man positively knew all about it, he w^ould lose more than 
half the fun of fishing. In the dark, mysterious w^ater, is a 
dark mysterious life. Every time we go a-fishing we learn some- 
thing new and wonderful about it. And we know^ that the next 
time -we go, we will learn something more. 

^ That is why all good fishermen stay young until they die. 
Fishing is the only dream of jouth that doth not grow stale w^ith 
age. No man has ever caught so many fish or so big a fish 
that he does not hope to catch still more and still bigger ones. 
fl Every good man does not go a-fishing; but that is only be- 
cause every good man, alas, is not perfect. Every good man 
ought to go a-fishing, because it w^ould make him even better. 

^ The man who fishes cannot conceivably harbor evil thoughts of 
his fellow^ man or his fellow woman. He does not desire money, 
for all the money in the world is jjow^erless to sway the simple 
judgment of a fish as the quality of a w^orm. 

^ He is busied in a far more noble pursuit than the unpleasant 
pursuit of gain. He ceases to waste his time in making a living. 
He is after fish. In those supreme and royal hours there is no 
dream for him except fish. His soul is serene and his nose is sun- 
burned and the w^ork-day w^orld is lost. 

^ And when he comes back home, there is no selfishness left in 
him. He tells his brother fishermen all that he learned — just what 
the fish bit best on, and how they did it. Fishing is a gener- 
ous art. It hath no room in its kindly philosophy for petty mean- 
ness or ignoble secrecy. 

fl In this book the w^riter tells all that he knows, after having 
fished and studied fish for tw^enty-five years. He is conscious that 
hundreds of his readers w^ill know something that is not here set 
down. He will ask them only to remember what he said in the 
introduction to this little preface — that no man knows all there is 
to know. And he vi'ill add that he has set nothing down that 
he has not tried himself or seen himself; so whatever may be the 
faults of this book, it has at least the one humble merit of being 
based on actual and repeated experience. 

Q It has been a pleasure to write the book — a pleasure, but a soft- 
ened sorrow^, too, for so many of the fine old anglers w^ith w^hom 
he has fished have gone to the Happy Fishing Grounds, where, he 
hopes and believes, they cast shadow^y flies with Izaak Walton and 
discuss great striped bass with grand old Seth Green. Surely men 
of the simple, innocent mind and soul of good fishermen will have 
a fishing heaven beyond. 

^ So the book, dedicated to the good anglers who have passed, is 
given to the good anglers w^ho are alive, with the modest hope 
that it will please and help them to good luck and monster fishes. 



^ 




Tomcod 



TOMCOD Because the tomcod is most numerous in 
~"~ cold weather, it is t)ftcn known as frost- 
fish, a name, which, however, it has to share with 
smelts and whitings. 

^ It belongs to the codfish family and closely resembles 
the common codfish in shape, color and markings. Many 
fishermen believe that the tomcod is nothing but a j'ourg 
deep sea cod, but this is erroneous. The tomcod never 
grows more than a foot long and few specimens are 
over six inches. It is the smallest of the cod famiW. 
^ A few tomcods are caught around New York during 
the entire 3'ear, but the big runs appear with the cold 
weather of November and disappear w^th mild weather in 
spring. Tomcod fishing usualh' stops b\' the end of March. 
^ The tomcod spawns in our w^aters during . the winter. 
It runs far up such rivers as the Hudson and does not 
object to fresh water. It likes fairly deep water, but 
prefers shores to open channels as a rule. Therefore the 
best fishing is from piers, rocky ledges or steep tough 
banks that have at least seven feet of water at low 
tide. Places twice or three times as deep are better. 
^ If fishing from a boat, places where the channel gets 
narrov^ or deep holes at the bends of channels are the 
best. The tomcod likes rocky bottom. 

^ Alost of the fishing is done from piers. It is not 
uncommon for a fisherman to catch 50 to 150 tomcods 
in a day from one of the piers that jut into the New 
York Bay or the East or North rivers- 



[3] 



^ The tomcod is a bottom fish exclusively. It must be 
fished for with sinkers heavy enough to hold bottom. 
^ To get any amusement out of it, a light rod should 
be used. The current at many of the piers and shores 
where tomcods are plentiful is not too strong for a 
light rig, as a half ounce sinker will hold bottom. 

^ Pier fishing for tomcods is usually good at Ulmer Park, 
thence along shore to Fort Hamilton and thence up to 
the piers that extend into the East River. Along the 
Staten Island shore the piers at Midland Beach and 
South Beach are good. There is excellent fishing at 
times from piers at Clifton, Stapleton and Tompkinsville. 
^ Tomcod fishing is fair in the Kill von Kull from West 
Brighton to Mariner's Harbor. 

^ The railroad bridges over Newark Bay still offer fair 
tomcod fishing. There is some shore fishing along Green- 
ville and Communipaw, on the New Jersey side of New 
York Bay. The best tomcod fishing, however, is from 
piers and shores on both sides of the Hudson River 
above Grant's Tomb and thence north as far as Croton. 
^ For boat fishing the channels that run under the trestle 
work in Jamaica Bay should offer some good sport, as 
the government has been planting tomcod fry for some 
years. In the dredged channel in Gravesend Bay there 
are several deep holes that attract tomcod. The Eel 
Patch, near Bayonne, in Newark Bay, is fairly reliable. 
^ Glen Head, Glen Cove and Oyster Bay on Long Isl- 
and are excellent places. 

^ The best bait for tomcods is sandworms. As a rule 
they will take bloodworms readily. Next in value comes 
the soft clam. Small baits should be used. 
^ Leaders are not necessary. Three hooks or even more 
are attached to the line, the lowest being tied close to 
the sinker and the others as near together as possible. 

^ Double gut is enough for the snells. The best sizes 
of hooks are number 7 Sproat or Carlisle, number 6 
Aberdeen, or number 3 Kirby. See hook chart in back. 

[4] 




QQQ^ The codfish is one of the most widely distrib- 

uted fishes known to man. It is found on 

our Atlantic and Pacific coasts from the temperate zone 
to the Arctic Ocean, and is plentiful in northern Euro- 
pean waters. 

^ It is one of the greatest feeders in the sea, and will 
eat almost anything on the bottom, from snails to 
small fish. Some of the rarest deep-sea shells would 
not be known to science if they had not been found 
in the stomachs of captured codfish. 

^ Besides being the most plentiful food fish, it is one 
of the largest. The official records vouch for specimens 
5 feet long. 

^ The fish caught around New York range in general 
weight from 5 to 20 pounds. Fish weighing from 20 
to 45 pounds are taken on the fishing banks steamboats 
every year, but the average is under 15 pounds. 
^ They are deep-sea fish almost exclusively, but come 
toward shore when tempted by good food conditions. 
Thus in 1897 there was a wonderful shore run. They 
were taken close to Norton's Point, Coney Island. Row- 
boats that went out from Gravesend Bay took fish in- 
side of the Point. Great catches were made from the 
ocean piers on Coney Island. 

^ During this run codfish ventured into Jamaica Bay. 
One was caught in Flatlands Bay in less than fifteen 
feet of water. 

^ A similar run has not occurred since then, but there 
has been fair night fishing at Coney Island every win- 

[5J 



ter. This night fishing is best when ihe weather is 
very cold. Smelt has proved good bait there. 
^ The bulk of the codfishing, however, must be done off 
shore. One good ground is the Rockaway Shoals, 

reached by boats from Gravesend, Sheepshead and Ja- 
maica Baj'S. The best grounds are the fishing banks off 
the Long Island and New Jersey coasts. 

^ The fishing begins in late October and improves stead- 
ily with cold weather. Fishing Banks steamers go out 
through the entire winter. In April the fish leave. 
C| The codfish is not a particularly choice feeder, but he 
is not prone to frequent dirty bottom. While he will 
feed over both sandy and muddy bottom, he prefers 
bottom that has rocks, mussels or coral. 

^ Codfish are so voracious that a codfish that is struck 
and tears away will often come to the bait again 
within a few moments after getting his wound. 
^ Being bottom feeders exclusively, heavy sinkers are 
needed. The best is the bank sinker. It should weigh 
614 to 9 ounces for the heavy fishing off shore. For 
fishing inside of the Lower Bay sinkers ranging from 614 
ounces to 7^^ ounces should be sufficient. 
^ No leaders or gut snells are needed on the hooks. 
Most dealers carry codfish hooks fastened to heavy 
twine snoods. 

^ One, two or three hooks may be used. The first is 
tied just above the sinker. The others are tied far 
enough apart so that they will clear each other. 
^ If it is possible to obtain calico crab in the shedder 
state, no better bait could be desired. Smelts and her- 
ring are good bait, but the usual bait is soft or hard 
clam and the great ocean clam known as the skimmer. 
^ A hard strike is needed to fasten the hook firmly in 
the leathery mouth of this fish. 

^ The styles of hook preferred by most fishermen are 
Limerick or Kirby. Numbers 7/0 to 8/0 as shown in chart 
are the best sizes. Codfish have gaping mouths and 
large hooks are needed. 

[6] 




Pollack 



POLLACIC "^^^^ pollack is the one game fish of 
- ■ the cod family. It does not range as 

far south as the codfish, and is more common at Cape 
Cod than around New York. 

^ On the Long Island coast it is most plentiful off 
Montauk Point, where it runs in large schools. When 
a "run" is on, there is excellent sport in trolling from 
power boats and sailing dories in the tide rips. 
^ The pollack, like the codfish, reaches great size. Speci- 
mens 4 feet long have been recorded. The capture of 
pollack is generally accidental, as there are rarelj^ 
enough fish in New York w^aters during the winter to 
make it profitable to go after them especially. Great 
quantities were caught on the Farm Banks in 1897. 
They ran up to 29 pounds. 

^ In former days when the pollack was more plentiful 
here, it had the local name of coal fish, which is the 
same name it bears in England, where it is one of the 
favorite sports of sea anglers to troll for it. 
1 ^ Although most of the pollack taken on the fishing 
I banks off Long Island and New Jersey are caught on 
I bottom while fishing for cod, the pollack is not a bot- 
} torn feeder exclusively. It is the one member of the 
( cod family that seeks live prey on the surface. 
-^ When pollack are thus hunting they rush violently 
along the surface in schools that often make the water 
foam and boil. At times they " mill," when the schools 
bear a striking resemblance to moss bunker schools if 
the pollack are small. 

[7] 



^ Pollack will take lead or pearl squids when trolled 
rapidly among them. In Newfoundland and New Bruns- 
wick w^aters a favorite method of amateurs is to cast 
nickeled spoons with a long rod from an anchored boat. 
^ When thus hooked on the surface they make a deter- 
mined fight, occasionally leaping from the water. 
^ The tackle must be heavy. A.n average school of 
adult pollack will contain fish that range from 10 tc 
15 pounds in weight. 

^ Fishermen desiring to try pollack fishing from Long 
Island cannot do better than to arrange with the pro- 
fessional fishermen at Montauk. When the pollack strike 
in there, the sport is excellent. 

^ In bottom or bait fishing for them, the best bait is 
herring or shedder lobster, but shedder crab, sand launce, 
smelt and even clam will take them. 

^ In bottom fishing the rig should be the same as 
that used for codfish. In surface fishing, without a 
spoon or squid, a number 1 Virginia, tapered point, or 
number 6/0 Kirby or Limerick hook should be attached 
to the end of the line with a piano wire leader. 

O'yj-Jj^p? CODS There are several members of the 
= — cod family that are caught occa- 
sionally around New York though very rarely. One is 
the spotted codling. It grows to a length of about a 
foot. The brown line along its side is broken by 
white spots, the inside of its mouth is white, and the 
first dorsal is chiefly black with a white margin. A 
few come into the Lower and Raritan Bays in late fall. 
^ A hake, known as squirrel hake, also comes into the 
Lower Bay in small numbers. It is plentiful in Buz- 
zard's Bay in May and June and October and Novem- 
ber. It averages about 2 pounds and has very poor 
flesh. A few are taken in nets in Gravesend Bay. 
^ The haddock which swims with the codfish, but hard- 
ly ever gets longer than 2 feet, is caught occasionally 
on the fishing banks, but is much more abundant off 
Gay Head, Mass., and around Martha's Vineyard. 

[8] 



M. 




Whiting ^"^ 



^^^^.. 
"^C.^ 



.„i<^-^'*;« 



5^;;^^^^^^^ 




"Y^J-JITING '^^^ professional fishermen inow this fish 

as the winter weakfish and as frost 

fish. Another name is the silver hake. It belongs to 
the same order of fishes as the cod and the ling, but 
is in a family by itself. 

^ Its bright silvery sides and fairly graceful shape make 
its name of winter weakfish appropriate. It arrives in 
October or November in schools that generally contain a 
few hundred fish. It is only seldom that they are 
caught in any quantity, as they are not sufficiently 
plentiful to induce anybody to go out after them espe- 
cially. Therefore the only whiting that are caught are 
those that happen to take the hook of the sportsman 
fishing for cod. 

^ Schools of w^hiting run close along the surf of Long 
Island and New Jersey in the winter, especially at 
night. At such times the fish are generally in mad 
pursuit of the little silver sand launt, and they crowd 
so closely to shore that the surf often throws them on 
the beach. 

^ Fishermen take the whiting in cold w^eather at night by 
wading along shore with torches and spearing or scoop- 
ing them w^ith nets as they dash through the surf. 
^ The names "hake" and "whiting" are also given some- 
times for the kingfish, an entirely different fish. 
^ Whiting in our territory rarely weigh more than IV^ 
or 2 pounds in shore or 5 to 6 pounds in deep 
water. Smelt and sand launt makes the best bait. 
Numbers 4/0 Sproat or 5/0 Limerick are good hooks. 

[9] 



LING: HAKE ^^^ ^^"S ^® extremely plentifal 

— around New York and can be 

caught all the year. It is a hake but is not called 

by that name. The fish known as "hake" by New 

York fishermen is another fish of the same family. 

^ The ling is generally gray or yellowish-brown. The 

fish known here as hake has a purple hue. It is a 

better fish. Ling average 2^4 pounds. Hake average 

4 pounds but run up to 18 pounds, 

fl Hake are not often caught during summer. Ling are 

most plentiful in spring and autumn but can be found 

in summer in the deep water off Scotland Lightship. 

^ There is considerable disagreement about the hakes. 
There are many fish of the hake family and even scien- 
tists do not agree about them. 

^ The ling likes muddy and dirty bottom, and stays in 
one feeding ground for a considerable period. There 
are ling grounds close to Rockaway Beach and Coney 
Island where a good catch of ling is practically assured 
at any time except under adverse weather conditions. 

^ One spot is near the bell buoy off Rockaway. An- 
other is on one of the old dumping grounds inside of 
the Lower Bay. At times ling are so plentiful that 
they can be taken anywhere over the mussel beds be- 
tween Coney Island and Sandy Hook. There are sea- 
sons w^hen small boats anchoring between Norton's Point 
on Coney Island and the ship channel catch many. 
^ Ling are bottom-feeding fish. Their natural food con- 
sists of the crabs that stay active in the winter, which 
are: the calico or lady crab, also known as the sand 
crab, the green weed crab, and the red rock crab. 
Clam is good bait and is the kind most used. 
^ In ordinary seasons ling come into shore at night to 
feed along the surf. This makes the ocean piers at 
Coney Island favorite places, as they are lit electrically. 
^ The methods of capture are the same as for codfish. 
The best hooks are numbers 5/0 Sproat, Limerick or 
Kirby and number 2 Virginia, as shown in chart. 

[10] 








^.^■'.^. 











Porgy 



PORGY. ^lost of the fishing for porgies is now 

— done in the open sea from large Ijoats. 

These porgies are known as sea-porgies and run large, 
ranging up to 2 pounds. The\^ never come into the 
bays, but sta^^ in deep water. 

^ The young porgies, known as sand porgies, come in- 
side of the inlets in vast numbers in some seasons, 
though they have not been nearly as plentiful in recent 
years as they used to be. They rarely average more 
than 14 pound and generally are still smaller. 
^ Porgies arrive in June and stay till October. July 
and August are the best months. 

^ They are bottom fish exclusively and prefer rocky 
places, wrecks and channels that have the bottom known 
as "cinders." 

^ Hard clam is the best bait. In the baj's, however, 
when the small porgies are present in good numbers 
they will take shedder crab, shrimp, sand worm and 
bloodworm ravenously. The baits should be cut into 
tiny pieces for the ba^^ porgies, as they are cunning 
thieves and nip at the bait so swiftly that thej' will 
strip the hook unless the bait is small. 

[11] 



I 



^ The bay porgies run into both shoal and deep water 
wherever there is food but prefer places at least 10 
feet deep at low tide where there is a fairly strong 
current. When they are present at all they are gener- 
ally in large schools. Therefore if the fisherman strikes 
one he is fairly sure to get more. No definite rule 
can be given about tides. They generally bite best at 
slack water and the first hour of the running tide. 

^ They do not often fool with the bait but go at it 
sharply and they must be struck at once. A swift 
jerk must be given the instant they nibble. The legs 
of shedder crab make excellent bait because the skin is 
tough and the bait is small enough to stick closely to 
the hook. 

^ The rig for porgy fishing is the same for both sea 
porgies and bay or sand porgies, the only difference be- 
ing that the hooks are much larger in sea fishing. 
The sinker must be heavy enough to hold bottom with- 
out drifting off. The first hook is tied just above the 
sinker, and the other hooks as close to it as possible 
without tangling. A good rule is to tie them just the 
length of the snell apart. In bay fishing most fisher- 
men use 3 hooks and some as many as six In good 
porgy seasons it is nothing uncommon to catch two 
or three fish at once. 

^ The fishing banks, the Iberia and Black Warrior 
wrecks, Rockaway Shoals and the mussel beds off Long 
Beach are the famous grounds for sea porgies. They 
have been fairly plentiful every season in recent years 
even when there have been no small porgies in the 
bays. Hard clam and skimmer clam are the best baits 
on the wrecks. They fight hard and strong tackle is 
needed. They are among the inost popular fish caught 
in the open sea. 

^ For sea porgies use No 6 or 7 Virginia, No 1 
Sproat, or 1/0 Limerick or Kirby hooks. For bay 
porgies use No. 7 Sproat, Aberdeen, Carlisle or No. 9 
Chestertown hooks. See hook chart. 

[12 1 




LAFAYETTE. ^^'^s is exclusively a bottom fish. 
— ■ It disappears entirely for some sea- 
sons and then comes suddenly in incredible quantities. 
The "run" of 1908 was a ver3' large one, almost as 
good as some of the record runs of past 3-ears. The 
little fish were caught as far up the river as New- 
burgh, N. Y. 

^ When lafayettes appear at all, they can be caught 
practically everywhere around New York, running into 
all the inlets and far up the East and Hudson Rivers. 
They rarely weigh more than a few ounces and fish of 
the size of the human hand are considered large. They 
are very game, however, and give excellent sport for 
their size. Some fishermen carry trout rods to use for 
them when other fish are not biting. 

^ They generally arrive in July and stay till October. 
When food is plentiful they will not always take clam 
bait, preferring bloodworm, sandworm or bits of shedder 
crab; but after a few weeks they have generally cleaned 
up the waters so thoroughly that they will take hard 
clam or anything else. W'orm bait or shedder crab, 
however, is the best at all times. 

^ They are not particular as to locality, but swarm as 
plentifully in muddy creeks and on . mud flats as in 

[13] 



channels and over hard bottom. The best places for 
them are oyster beds or channels with from 8 to 10 
feet of water at high tide. At low water they run to 
the deeper channels or into holes in the small channels 
and drains. 

^ Although they are lively feeders, they are rather wary 
and often go at the hook very C[uietly and cautioush', 
nipping the bait off bit by bit so daintily that they 
can hardly be felt. It is not eavSy to hook them when 
they do this. The best way is to lower the rod a 
few inches so that the tide can carry the bait off. 
Generally the lafayette will grab it when it thus moves 
away. Another way is to raise the tip of the rod 
gently, luring the fish along until he strikes sharpU'. 

^ Always keep a taut line and move the bait up and 
down from the bottom every few minutes. Lafayettes 
will bite harder at a moving bait than a motionless 
one ; but the movement must be gentle. 
^ Never use large baits. It is true that there are 
times when the fish will go at anything. But when 
they are at all shy, they will stay awa^' from a large 
bait or tug at it cautiously while they will snap bold- 
ly at a bit of bait just large enough to cover the 
point of the hook. Alwa^-s cut the jaws off sand- 
worms and bloodworms. If you use shrimp for bait, 
put it on head first so that the point of the hook 
will be at the tail. The lafayettes are often afraid of 
the spines on the head, 

^ Use a sinker that is just heavy enough to go down 
to bottom swiftly but that will move a little with the 
tide whenever the line is raised. Tie the lowest hook 
just above it. This bottom hook will take the most 
fish. Fasten the next hook about 3 inches alDove it 
and so on. Three hooks are usually used but many 
fishermen use as many as five, 

^ Use no leaders unless the fish are scarce or shy. 
The smaller the hook the better. The best are Carlisle 
and Sproat numbers 8, 9 and 10, 

[14] 




King Fjsh %^ 



\FCINGFISH This fish is getting to be scarce around 

' New York. Few are caught now in 

Jamaica Bay or in the Low^er Bay and Staten Island 
waters where they used to be plentiful. They still oc- 
cur in fair numbers in the waters behind Long Beach 
and in Great South Bay. There is reasonably good 
kingfishing in the surf at Rockaw^ay Beach at times, 
Barnegat Bay and Corson's Inlet in New Jersey offer 
really good fishing usually. Below Virginia they are 
still plentiful. They like deep water at ends of sand bars. 
^ Though kingfish are among the gamest salt water 
fish, they are bottom feeders exclusively. Their mouth 
is underneath and is very small, consequently small 
hooks and baits must be used. The sinker must be 
heavy enough to touch bottom, and yet light enough 
so that the tide can carry it along every time the line 
is lifted. This should be done constantly till the bait 
has been carried several hundred feet from the boat. 
^ Attach the hook close to the sinker. Leaders are not 
essential when casting from shore. Kingfish like sand- 
worm bait best but shedder crab is mostly used as the 
small sand crab is a terror on bloodworm. Soft and 
hard clams are good. They like hard, clean bottom 
of bright sand or oyster beds, and rarely run larger 
than Sy2 pounds. Aberdeen No. 1 or Chestertown No. 
6 hooks are good. No. 1 or 1/0 Sproat or O'Shaugh- 
nessy are right for casting. 

L15] 




EELS These fish bite best in spring and autumn, 

but can be taken throughout the summer 

also. 

^ If the weather is mild and open, they often feed well 
into December. If the temperature drops low, they bur- 
row into the mud and hibernate for the winter, coming 
out again in March or April with the flounders. 
^ They bunch in great numbers in mud holes in win- 
ter. Baymen who locate these holes drive spears into 
the bottom, and often bring up two eels at one thrust 
and sometimes three or four. A barrelful of eels is 
sometimes taken out of one hole. 

^ Eels feed most freely at night. The peculiar smacking 
sound that almost all fishermen have heard near grassy 
banks after dark, is made by eels feeding on shrimp 
and spearing. 

^ Creeks with steep sod banks or with sedges standing 
in 3 to 5 feet of water at high tide are excellent 
places, particularly'- on dark nights without a moon 
Mrhen the tide is flood. The best fishing usually is 
close to the bank. It is well to sound the depths 
and pick out the deepest places. Small drains running 
through flats that are dry at low tide often hold many 
eels when the tide begins to ebb. 

^ The best method for eel fishing is bobbing. No hook 
is used. A dozen or more sandworms or bloodworms 
are strung on rough worsted or silk, the loose ends of 
which are then wound around and around the bait suf-^ 

[16] 



iciently to protect it against being torn oflf, but not 
so much as to hide it. The material used must be of 
rough fabric, because the idea is that the tiny teeth of 
:he eels will get caught in it and the fisherman can 
thus lift the eel into the boat before it can get away. 

^ This bob is used with a line just long enough to 
touch bottom. A very stiff stick or pole is used in- 
stead of a rod. A sinker is tied below the worms. 

^ As soon as a bite is felt the bob is brought smart- 
ly inboard. It is then shaken violently over a bucket 
or other receptacle and the eel is shaken off. 

^ In hook and line fishing, the sinker must be heavy 
enough to hold bottom in any tide. There is little 

[advantage in using more than two hooks, as eels will 
rarely bite at a hook much higher above the bottom 
than three or four inches. 

^ They bite very quickly and cunningly and must be 
struck promptly or they will steal the bait. 
^ The angler should be provided w-ith a rag so that 
the eels can be gripped firmly as soon as they come 
in. If they are allowed to wriggle or dangle even 
for a moment they will generally tie themselves into 

I a knot in their endeavor to tear away. 

j^ The best places for them are shallov^ coves and bays, 
such as the flats in Flatlands Ba^^, the creeks east of 
the trestle in Jamaica Bay, the muddy cove at Great 
Kills, S. I., Gravesend Ba}-, and the sedgy shores of 
the Arthur Kill between Staten Island and New Jersey. 

^ In autumn the eels run well along the Staten Island 
shore between Princess Bay and the Woods of Arden. 

^ The best bait is shedder crab, sand or bloodworm. 
Clam, hard and soft, attracts them almost as well. 

^ Large eels will bite well at killies. The killies need 
not be alive. Spearing make a fine bait. 

^ Tie the hooks as close to the sinker as possible. 
The best sizes and kinds are No. 9 Chestertown, No. 7 
Kirby or Limerick or No. 8 Sproat. See the hook chart. 




Smeir 



SMELT* Comparatively few fishermen know that 

' there is good winter fishing for smelt in 

some parts of Pelham Bay, behind City Island, and in 
the channels that run in at Larchmont, Mamaroneck 
and New Rochelle along the north shore of Long Isl- 
and Sound. 

^ Smelts, also known as frostfish and icefish, begin to 
run in late November. They remain only during winter 
and will not stay in warm water. They prefer narrow 
inland channels and rivers or creeks. 

^ The average size of smelt around New York is less 
than seven inches. They reach lengths of twelve inches 
occasionally. 

^ They run in big schools and bite fast and steadily. 
Night or dull days are best for fishing. 
^ In most channels they bite best at flood tide. 
^ At the slightest nibble the fish must be struck and 
with the same motion lifted into the boat. When smelt 
are biting fast they can often be brought in as fast 
as the line can be wielded. 

^ Most fishermen do not use a reel but have only 
enough line to reach bottom. This is quite practicable 
as smelt fishing is usually best in from 4 to 6 feet 
of water. 

^ Bloodworm is the best bait. They will take shrimp, 
sandworms and clams. All baits must be small. 
^ Use a sinker heavy enough to take the bait to bot- 
tom quickly. Immediately above it tie three or four 
No. 8 Carlisle, Aberdeen, Chestertown or Sproat hooks, 

[18] 




Sheepshead 



SHEEPSHEAD. '^^^^ ^^^^ ^^ ®° scarce now on the 

Atlantic coast north of A'irginia 

that there is no use • fishing for it specially. Now and 
then one is caught while fishing for blackfish. The 
sheepshead has the same habits and feeds the same 
way. It is a great prize, not only because of its 
rarity, but because it is immensely strong and usually 
runs large, ranging from 5 to 20 pounds. 
^ When taken on blackfish tackle sheepshead often suc- 
ceed in snapping the hook in two, as they have a 
habit of butting their heads against rocks. They will 
take any blackfish bait, but prefer hermit crabs. 
^ August and September are best. Sheepshead are occa- 
sionally caught along the trestle in Broad and Beach 
Channels, Jamaica Bay. They like mussel bottom. Many were 
taken each season years ago on the Black Warrior Wreck 
and the Stone Pile. A few are still caught at Fire Island. 
^ To fish for them specially tie a number 2 Virginia 
or Blackfish hook (see chart) close to the sinker and 
bait with a young soft clam about 1 inch long, leaving 
the shell on. Give them a little time after they take 
the bait till they begin to crush it. 

[19] 




HERRINGS. Several varieties of the herring take the 
— — — ^-^^— hook well in our waters. The first ones 
are the sea herring, which arrive about the end of 
May with the early weakfish. They average about 1 
pound, and are beautiful fish with very large silver 
scales and pearly tints over steel blue. 

^ In October a larger herring, running as high as 2^^ 
pounds, arrives and often stays till December, This is 
the hickory shad, better known as fall herring or shad 
herring. The true shad does not take the hook. 
C|f All these herrings are surface feeders and very shy 
indeed. They must be kept near the boat by constant 
and liberal chumming. The tackle must be very light. 
^ They make a game though short fight, often leaping 
clear of the v^ater. Sometimes, especially early in the 
morning or at dusk, they w^ill snap eagerly at tiny 
bright spaons or fly hooks. 

^ Very small killies and bloodworms make fair bait, 
and herring will often bite at weakfish tackle baited 
with this, but to get a good mess it is necessary to 
fish with much finer tackle. 

^ A single shrimp is jmt on the hook and the line 
should be tossed lightly into the tide and allowed to 
float away with the chum. If the fisherman avoids 
noise or sudden motions and chums properly, the her- 
ring w^ill come close to tlie boat. 

^ An extremely small hook is necessary. A number 8 
Sproat or Chestertown shiould be attached to a 6 foot 
leader and fastened to the end of the line. Neither 
float or sinker must be used. See chart of hooks. 

[20] 




FLOUNDER. ^^^^ ^^^ f^^^® ^^^y ^" bottom, soft 

black mud in water from 6 to 10 

feet deep at high tide is best. At high tide they scat- 
ter well over the flats, but remain most numerous at 
the edges of channels and drains. At low tide they 
work into the deeper channels and generally are most 
plentiful at bends or in deep holes. Other good places 
are holes under steep banks in creeks if the bottom is 
fairly soft. A good rule for channel fishing is to an- 
chor on the edges of channels at high tide ; between the 
edge and the center at half tide ; and in the center of 
the channel at low tide. 

^ It is wise to study the bottom. This is done easily 
by simply lifting the anchor and examining the nmd that 
is brought up. Flounders are a very cleanly little fish 
and they want mud that is free from filth. Coal-black 
mud that feels velvety when rubbed between the fin- 
gers is best especially if it has tiny white specs in it. 
This shows that it has shell-fish life, which attracts 
flounders. If the mud has a greasy or slimy appear- 
ance or a foul odor, the chances are not good there 
for fish. There are exceptional cases where flounders are 
caught on dirt}* bottom, but the rule given here is 
good generally. 
^ The sinker must be heavy enough to hold bottom 

[21] 



without moving. It should sink into the mud so that 
the fisherman can stir it every few minutes and thus 
raise up a little cloud of mud. This attracts flounders. 
For the same reason, it is good to anchor astern of a 
clammer or 03'ster dredger. The flounders gather there 
to feed on the worms, etc., dislodged by the rake. 
^ When flounders are biting well, they swim slowly 
along hunting food, and at such times a good catch 
can be made without moving the boat all day. But 
it w^ill not pay to stay in any spot if the flounders 
do not bite there pretty rapidly. They may be feeding 
within a few yards, but the boat may be anchored in 
a spot that lias nothing to attract them. There are 
always such spots in even the best flounder grounds, 

^ If flounders are not biting where you are, raise an- 
chor and move a hundred feet or so, and repeat this 
until you strike fish. Flounders must be hunted. They 
don't rush around looking for food like weakfish. 

^ There are days when they do not bite anywhere 
even in the best places. They lie buried in the mud 
with only their eyes uncovered. Then they often can 
be made to bite by stirring up the bottom with a rake 
or a pole or by rowing around with the anchor drag- 
ging. This brings them out of the mud, and then they 
usually start feeding because they are tempted by the 
worms that come swirling out of the disturbed bottom. 
^ Flounders come in from the sea in September, begin 
biting as soon as the weather gets cold and bite well 
into December in mild seasons. Then they go into the 
mud and stay dormant till the end of February. In a 
mild winter they often begin feeding freely by Washing- 
ton's Birthday. Toward the end of April they run out 
to sea again. Hardly any stay in the bays through 
summer, and those that do are small. 

^ The best months for them are late March, April, 
October and November. If the season is cold, they 
often lie on shallow bars when the day is sunny, and 

[22] 



if the day is dark they will seek the deepest water or 
He under banks, preferring those sheltered from wind. 
^ For flounder fishing the boat should be anchored with 
as little rope as possible so that it w^ill lie steady. 
The fisherman must feel his line constantly. Flounders 
bite very lightly and generally do not fool much w^ith 
the bait, but nip at it and go. They must be struck 

j at once. 

^ A short, smart tug generally fastens the hook in 
their mouths. It is a mistake to use the violent, surg- 

i ing jerk that many fishermen employ. Flounders have a 
great habit of spitting the bait out, and a ferocious 
jerk on the part of the fisherman helps them in this 

I trick. The secret is to strike the fish just hard enough 

I to twist the hook in his mouth and make it hold. 

^ Sometimes flounders bite so delicately that they can 
hardly be felt, and it seems as if spearing or other 
}i tiny fish w^ere nibbling. Then they need coaxing. Slack- 
en the line instantly and let them have a few inches. 
This generally tempts them into sucking the bait in. 
After a second or two, tauten your line up very gentl}^ 
and if you feel the weight of the fish on it, give a 
short, steady tug. This will hook the fish, whereas a 
sharp jerk will probably pull the hook away from him. 
Lifting the tip of the rod 3 or 4 inches will be quite 
sufficient if done wath the proper motion. 
^ If you are using light tackle, don't make the mistake 
of despising the flounder because he isn't a game fish. 
Handle him respectfully when hooked, for his first fight 
will be violent, and he can smash tackle very suddenly. 

^ Sandworms make the very best bait. They should 
V^e firm and red. Sick, thin, greenish worms are no 
good. Cut the jaws away before using the worm. 
Use small baits. Very often flounders will refuse to go 
near large baits. The worm should merely cover the 
hook half way up the shank. 

^ Soft clams are next to sandworm in value. Then 
comes hard clam. The common mussel known as horse 

[23] 



mussel that is found everywhere sticking out of meadows 
and banks is good, but will not stay on the hook 
well. Sometimes when flounders are "off" their feed," 
they will take a combination bait made of a tiny bit 
of clam with a bit of sandworm on the point of the 
hook. A bit of red feather on the hook is useful 
sometimes, but it must be very small. 

^ Toward the end of April when the flounders move to 
sea, and the very large flounders known as "sea flound- 
ers" are caught, clam often proves the best bait. When 
the flounders thus run, the fisherman will do better in 
the deep channels near the inlets than on the flats and 
shallow channels inside of the bays. 

^ The bays on the south shore of Long Island have 
the ideal conditions for flounders. Jamaica Bay is one 
of the best places on the coast. Flounders weighing as 
high as 4V2 pounds have been taken, and a few weigh- 
ing 2 pounds and more will be caught during a good 
day's fishing. The average weight, however, is proba- 
bly little more than 1 pound. 

^ Long Island Sound is also famous for flounders. The 
waters around City Island contain enormous numbers. 
They are small, however, averaging below V2 pound. 
^ In rigging for flounders the prime necessity is to get 
the hooks as close to the sinker as possible. The 
hooks should have strong snells. Do not use leaders. 
^ The lowest hook must be tied immediately above the 
sinker. The other hooks go as near the first as pos- 
sible. A good rig is to use a wire spreader which 
makes it possible to use 2 or 3 hooks all on bottom 
without tangling. (See swivel chart on page 56.) 
^ In flounder fishing it is better to have hooks too 
small than too large. The best hook for all 'round 
fishing is a number 8 Chestertown. This will hold fish 
from V4, to 1^2 pounds perfectly, and will not miss 
many larger ones. Those who prefer a larger hook 
will not go amiss if they take a number 7 Chester- 
town. Number 5 Kirby is also a good hook. 

[24] 




Sea Bass 



SEA BASS. '^^^^ ^^ ^ ^^^y plentiful fish in the 

■ open waters around New York. It 

used to be equally plentiful in the bays, but in recent 
years it has not appeared there in large numbers. 
^ The sea bass that come close into shore and enter 
Great South, Jamaica, Raritan and Barnegat Bays are 
much smaller than the ocean sea bass. They rarely 
run as high as l^^ pounds and the average is i^ or 
% pound. Thej are bottom feeders entirely and like 
the deepest water they can find. They are hardly ever 
found in water less than 10 or 12 feet deep at low 
tide and the best depths are from 15 to 50 feet 
^ They prefer deep channels w^ith hard bottom, and pre- 
fer mussel beds, rocks or "cinders," which are the homes 
of marine worms. Wrecks or timbers that have been 
sunk long enough to be encrusted with mussels and bar- 
nacles are excellent. Creeks that have sod banks drop- 
ping steeply into 10 feet of water or more at low tide 
are good places when the tide is high. The sea bass 
usually feed close under the banks there. Creeks with 
low muddy or sandy banks are not good generally. Sea 
bass are very cleanly feeders and like clear water. 
^ The early run enters the bays in late May. These 
fish are small and usually dark brown in color. They 
bite best on sandworm. In July the larger bass arrive. 
They are generally dark, blue, indigo and black predomi- 

[25] 



nating. Shedder crab and clam attract them best, but 
they will also take sand worm and shrimp. 

^ These summer bass are not shy and no leaders are 
needed. The sinker must be heavy enough to hold bot- 
tom in any tide. Often the best fishing is in the very 
middle of deep channels v^hen the tide is rushing at its 
swiftest. Therefore fishermen should be prepared with 
sinkers weighing at least 3V2 ounces or even 6 ounces. 
^ Two or three hooks are used, the lowest one being 
about 2 inches above the sinker. The others far enough 
apart to clear. Keep a taut line and strike without 
too much force the moment a good bite is felt. If 
there is only a nibl)le, give the fish time. AVhen a sea 
bass takes hold in earnest he gives a good tug. 
^ In August in good bass 3'ears a run of larger fish 
comes in from the sea. Their color is generally lighter, 
often being straw yellow with indigo blotches. These 
fish may average 1 pound and in a good day's catch 
there may be a few weighing IV2 pounds. They are 
far more shy than the summer bass and leaders are 
necessary. The lower leader should be at least 3 feet 
long and be attached about 6 inches above the sinker. 
Another leader 2 feet long should be attached about IV^ 
feet above the first. 

^ These late bass will take shedder crab and clam, but 
sometimes they are very slow about taking anything ex- 
cept live bait. Nothing will attract them so much as 
a green killie IV2 or 2 inches long, hooked carefully 
through the lips so that it can swim naturally. If 
the hook is passed gently into the killie's mouth and 
out through its gills, it will live for hours. 
^ When the liass are biting well, they will strike like a 
weakfish, gulping the killie and hook and running off. 
A mere tightening of the line wall fasten the hook in 
their mouths then. But they are more likely to catch 
the killie by the tail and then lie quite motionless, so 
that all the fisherman can feel on his line is a very 
gentle series of short tugs. If the angler strikes then, 

[26] 



the bass will let go or tear off part of the klllie. 
^ As soon as these gentle tugs are felt, lower the tip 
of the rod nearly to the surface and pay out line bit 
by bit, keeping the thumb constanth^ on the reel so 
that you can feel the fish all the time. The fish will 
move away slowly and ma\' take out as much as 50 
feet or even more. Sometimes he will make smart runs, 
enough to make the reel spin ; but unless he has the 
hook, these runs will not have an}-- force behind them 
and will not be followed bj^ the violent surge that a 
sea bass always makes when he is really hooked. 

^ Generally the bass will stop after he has moved away 
about 20 feet. Then a sharp series of quivering tugs 
will follow, meaning that the fish is turning the killie 
in his jaws to get it down head first. As soon as he 
has done this, he will start off with a powerful jerk 
and a short, gentle strike will hook him. 

^ The great hump-backed sea bass that are caught in 
the open sea bite savagely and without any of this 
trickery. The best baits for them are hard and skim- 
mer clams and shedder crab. Heavy sinkers weighing 
from 5 to 10 ounces are needed. The hooks must be 
tied close to the sinkers and must have very strong 
snells, for the fish range from IV2 to 6 pounds. 
^ The mussel beds off Long Beach, L. I., the Iberia 
Wreck and the fishing banks outside of Sand3' Hook are 
the best places. The^^ can be reached only by sea- 
worthy and large boats. The fishing begins about the 
middle of June and lasts till October. It is at its best 
in August. 

^ For these big ocean bass the best hooks are No. 
5/0 Sproat, O'Shaughnessy, Limerick or Kirby or No. 4 
Virginia. For the August-run bay bass use No. 1/0 
Sproat or Aberdeen The latter hook is excellent for 
killies because it is so thin and blue that it is almost 
invisible in the water. For the early summer bass in 
the bays No. 1/0 Sproat, No. 6 Virginia or No. 1/0 
Kirby or Limerick will be best. See hook chart. 

[27] 



CHANNEL BASS. (RED DRUM). This fish is 

=— not so plen- 
tiful around New York that anybody can catch it, nor 
are there enough so that even experts can expect to 
get one every time ; but there are more large red drum 
caught with hook and line each year than most fisher- 
men imagine. It is a handsome fish, belonging to the 
same family as the weakfish ; but there is no resem- 
blance between them. The red drum feeds almost en- 
tirely in the surf or in deep inlets and never comes 
inside of confined bays. They run along shore in July 
and August. Every j^ear a fair number weighing from 
10 to 60 pounds are taken by casting into the surf 
at Ivong Beach, L. I. A- sixty pounder was taken in 
1901 at Edgemere, L. 1. The best fishing for them is 
in the surf from Barnegat to Sea Isle City, N. J. (Cor- 
son's Inlet.) There is also trolling there. Rig and 
method are the same as described for striped bass fish- 
ing in the New Jersey surf. Shedder crab is best bait. 

BLACK DRUM. ^^^^ ^^^ ^^ related to the red 

drum and reaches weights up to 

100 pounds. It is not so handsome nor nearly as 
game as the red drum. Most of those that are caught 
are taken in the surf, but a few are hooked by bot- 
tom fishing on oyster beds, where this fish often is a 
great pest, destroying young oysters in immense quanti- 
ties. Now and then schools of young drum ranging 
from 14 to 4 pounds come into New York harbor. 
They have black stripes, and are called "banded drum." 
They are fairly common near Barnegat Inlet. 

BERGALL. (GUNNER.) '^his fish is related to 

. the blackfish, and is 

found in the same places. Inside of bays it is simply 
a nuisance, rarely being more than a few inches long 
and stealing bait industriously. In the open sea, how- 
ever, it sometimes reaches 2V2 pounds. Bait, rig and 
method are same as for blackfish. 

[28] 




FLUKE 



^W\siiv^^^^^^^ 



..-#" 
.^^ 



FLLJICE ^° ^^^^ comes into the bays regularly in 

such numbers as does the fluke. From late 

May to the end of October it can be found almost 
everywhere from Cape May to Montauk Point. 
^ It is shaped like the winter flounder but otherwise is 
entirely different. It has very large jaws full of long, 
sharp teeth, and it hunts live prey, especially killies and 
spearing. 

^ It will go anywhere in search of food but it prefers 
clean stony or sandy bottoms in channels that have at 
least 8 or 9 feet of water at low tide. Favorite 
places for fluke to lie are in the deep water at the 
tail-ends of sandy bars where the current eddies will 
swirl killies and other food to them. The fluke also 
likes creeks with steep sedgy or sod banks, sometimes 
called stunt banks. Another good spot is wherever a 
drain or small creek meets a channel. 

^ It is a bottom feeder almost entirely, but at times 
it feeds and "breaks" on the surface, especially at dawn 
or evening. At night it will work into the high grass 
where there are only a few inches of water. 
^ It is a slow swimmer and usually- follows a moving 
bait for some distance before taking hold. Now and 
then, however, a fluke will strike savagely and rush 
away like a bluefish, even jumping clear of the water 
if the place is shallow. 

[29] 



^ The fluke is a great glutton aud gorges itself till it 
can hold no more; yet there are times when it is "off 
its feed" and then only the best bait and scientific fish- 
ing will succeed. 

^ It is not a shy fish and does not object to noise or 
disturbance like the weakfish, but cjuiet fishermen w^ill do 
better than careless ones. It will generally take a 
moving bait better than a motionless one. Therefore 
drifting is more successful than still-fishing. 
^ Drifting is not at all like trolling. A sinker is used 
to keep the bait dragging on the bottom. This sinker 
need not be heavy, because the boat moves with the 
tide. Sinkers like Nos. 9 or 10 shown in the sinker 
chart in the back of this book are the best kinds be- 
cause they are not likely to catch in shells or stones. 
A 3 foot leader is attached with a good swivel about 
6 inches above the sinker and 2 feet above this is a 
2 foot leader. 

^ The best bait is a bottle green killie about 2 inches 
long. Hook it through the lips or pass the hook 
gently into its mouth and let it come out at the gills, 
thus not wounding it at all. Many fishermen put the 
hook through the killie's back, because they argue that 
the fluke will hook himself more surely This is true, 
but it has the disadvantage of dragging the killie side- 
ways, which makes it look utterly unnatural besides gen- 
erally making it twirl and spin till the line kinks. 
^ No other bait compares with killies for drifting, but 
shedder crab, spearing, mossbunker or strips of herring, 
porgy, lafayette, sea robin or snappers are all very 
wood. Fluke will also take sandworm and clam. 
^ In deep w^ater drifting use only one leader with two 
hooks attached to it. Bait the lower hook with a 
killie and the other with fish bait, preferably a piece 
of sea robin. 

€[[ The boat is allowed to drift with the tide and from 
50 to 100 feet of line are paid out. In places less 
than 10 feet deep, as much as 200 feet may be neces- 

[30] 



sarv if the water is very clear, as the fluke will keep 
awav from the boat. In deep water it is enough to 
paj out sufficient line to keep the sinker on bottom. 
€f On the flood tide the fishing is done on the banks 
near the channel edges. At low water, fish right in 
the channels. Fluke bite best in a running tide and 
few are caught in slack water. 

^ Still-fishing is done from any anchored boat with ex- 
actly the same rig. The sinker must be heavier, how- 
ever, because it must resist the tide; but it should not 
be so heavv that '< will not drift a little everv time 
the line is raised. This should be done continually for 
fluke are often very slow about taking a motionless bait. 

^ Ordinarily fluke will gulp the bait and give a vio- 
lent plunge immediately. Then a short jerk is sufficient 
to hook them. But at times they take hold of one 
end of the bait and tug gently and in a noticealjly 
sluggish way. When they do this, they generally give 
three or four quivering jerks in swift succession, as it 
they were trying to back away with the bait. This 
is just what they are doing. At such titres a few feet 
of line should be let out very slowly. After a few 
seconds, raise the rod carefully and feel the fish. If he 
is still tugging lazily, it is a sign that he has not yet 
gulped the bait. Draw the bait in slowly a few inches. 
If this does not tempt him to snap at it, let him 
have more line again. The \vriter has given a lazy 
fluke as much as 100 feet of line. 

^ When the fluke finally bolts the bait, there will be 
no room for mistake, for he turns instantly with a 
powerful flirt of his tail and starts away. 
^ Fluke average about 2 pounds, but at any time and 
in almost an\^ place, even an unskilful fisherman may 
hook one that will run anywhere from 5 to 15 pounds. 
Fluke rcarhing the latter weight have been taken in 
Great South, Jamaica, Raritan and Barnegat Bays more 
than once. Almost anybody may expect one or more 
that will weigh 5 pounds in the course of an average 

[31] 



day's fishing around New York, and hardly a day passes 
in July and August without the capture by somebody 
of a fluke weighing 10 pounds or more. In the deeper 
water off shore, fluke occasionally weigh as much as 20 
pounds. The deep holes in the Rockaway Inlet chan- 
nel and thence out across the mussel beds often hold 
very large fluke. Beach Channel, the Raunt, Goose 
Creek, Fishkill and Island Channels in Jamaica Bay have 
lots of fluke of all sizes at all tides in an ordinary 
season. An excellent place is close to Nova Scotia Bar 
where its southern end slopes into very deep water. 
^ Dead Horse Inlet and a deep place in Island Channel 
close to the sod banks north of Barren Island are 
famous spots. Dead Horse Inlet begins between Barren 
Island and Sheepshead Bay and leads in behind Barren 
Island. 

^ By starting from shore after high water, fluke fisher- 
men w^ill have the ebbing tide to carr}' them toward 
inlets and then can drift back again with the incoming 
tide. The jerks of the line as the sinker drags on 
bottom, will fool the inexperienced drifter again and 
again into the belief that a fish is biting, but after a 
short time he will have no trouble in perceiving the 
difference. 

^ The best hook for general fluke fishing is a No. 1, 
1/0 or 2/0 long-shank Kirby Bass. The long shank of 
this style is a great advantage in taking the hook out 
of the fluke's unpleasant jaws. The No. 1 hook is small 
enough to hook a fluke as small as 1 pound. The 
2/0 will not miss many small fluke and still it is 
large enough to hold as big a fish as may come 
along. Many fishermen, however, prefer 5/0 and 6/0 
Sproat hooks, and there is no particular objection to 
this, as the fluke has big jaws and will take big baits. 
See actual sizes as shown in hook chart. The long- 
shank Kirby Bass hooks are same sizes as the Kirby 
hook'S on the chart, the only difference being in the 
long shanks. 

[32] 




"^r/^£^^J<^pj|5f-| By nature weakfish are surface switn- 

- mers, hunting live prey, but they 

adapt themselves to local conditions. In shallow chan- 
nels and over flats and oj^ster beds, they generally feed 
on or near the surface because shrimp, shedder crabs, 
killies, etc, gather there. In water deeper than 15 or 
20 feet, where the smaller swimming creatures do not 
willingly venture, the weakfish are always likely to feed 
on worms and other creatures on bottom. 
^ Their manner of biting is as variable as their habits. 
When they run on the surface they take the bait with 
a smashing strike ; but when they are feeding any dis- 
tance below, they often bite daintily, and on the bot- 
tom they usually nibble or tug a little while before 
taking the hook and running away. 

^ Their normal way is to snatch the bait at full speed 
with an effort that can best be described as like a 
furious blow. This "strike" is superior in suddenness 
and viciousness to the strike of any other common fish, 
not excepting black bass or striped bass. Only the blue- 
fish equals it. If weakfish fought to the end as they 
begin, they would be the leading game fish of North 
America; but their first dash is their best. They weak- 
en steadily though they do not surrender without many 
sudden and savage rushes. 

^ These fierce spurts that occur without warning, make 
weakfish difficult to handle. Their lips are almost like 
paper and the hook rips through them, permitting the 

[33] 



fish to tear themselves free. Therefore a rod that is 
flexible yet springy, hke an 8-ounce black bass bait rod, 
will save more fish than a stiff rod that refuses to 
yield to their surges. 

^ Practically all fishermen who use the heavy stiff sea 
rod expect, as a matter of course, to lose a certain 
number of weakfish through tearing loose during that 
first desperate rush. The writer has fished with every 
kind of weakfish tackle made, and he can assure his 
readers that an angler with a sufficiently elastic rod 
will lose very few, if any, fish if he tries the following 
method when the fish are striking hard. 

^ After playing out the bait to the right spot, hold 1| 
the rod almost, but not quite, at a right angle to 
the line, with the tip close to the water. Keep a 
firm grip, or a strike may jerk it out of your hands. 
Hold the thumb of the left hand on the spool of the 
reel. Never mind about the reel handle. When the 
fish strikes, do not strike back. Simply sway him firm- 
ly with the rod, governing the reel altogether by the 
thumb. If his dash is too wild for the rod to hold 
him, regulate the thumb pressure to give him line, 
quickly or slowly, as he takes it; but don't give him 
an inch of slack line, and do not for a moment relax 
the steady, even pressure of your rod. 

^ Above all, do not make the mistake of letting the 
fish jerk your rod forward so that it will point in the 
same direction as the line. This is a common mistake 
of beginners and of men who are accustomed to the 
use of heavy tackle. The rod will govern the fish 
only when it is in such a position that its full elas- 
ticity comes into pla3^ In any other position, it will 
permit slack line the instant the fish changes his course; 
and slack line in weakfishing means a lost fish almost 
always. This is because the hook is almost certain to 
tear the jaws somewhat, no matter how carefully the 
fish is handled; and as soon as slack line occurs, it is 
likely to drop out. 

[34] 



^ Do not try to reel the weakfish in till liis first rusli 
has ceased. Fight him with the rod as much as pos- 
sible. You will be surprised to find how well even a 
very large fish can be controlled. Most salt water anglers 
begin to reel in the moment they fasten their fish. 
Then, if the fish makes a new dash, it is either a 
case of hauling against him by main strength or he 
will jerk the reel handle from the angler's fingers and 
run without any control. 

^ Weakfish make these unexpected dashes continually, and 
it is then that they escape or smash tackle. Do not, 
therefore, be in a hurry to reel in. So long as the 
rod is playing the fish, 3'ou have him safe and can 
afford to delay reeling till you are fairly sure that he 
is ready to come. If, however, the weakfish tries a 
favorite trick of rushing toward the boat, you must 
reel instantly and sway your rod backward as far as 
it will go, to prevent slack line. 

^ Ordinarily, weakfish hit the bait so desperately that 
they hook themselves, and it is unnecessary to strike 
them. There are times, however, when they take the 
bait gently and move away, generally slowly, sometimes 
quickly, but in either case without force. In such cases 
they must be struck. Tauten the line very gently till 
the whole weight of the fish is on it. If he pulls 
steadily, it is likely that he has the bait well in his 
jaws and a firm, deliberate stroke of the rod will fas- 
ten him. If, however, the fish simph- tugs irregularly 
or makes little nipping jerks when you feel him on 
your line, the chances are that he is playing with the 
bait. Give him line very carefully and without sudden 
motions. Sometimes a timid fish will take 25 or 30 
yards. Then, as a rule, he will swallow the bait and 
start away. 

^ If you feel tiny, feeble nibbles at your bait in waters 
where weakfish should be, do not be in haste to as- 
sume that it is done by lafayettes or other small fish. 
Sometimes weakfish will nip at bait this way through 

[35] 



a whole tide. There is Httle use then in trying to 
hook them with a sharp strike. Change the bait, ad- 
just it very carefully, and when the fish nibble, play 
out 8 or 10 feet of line instantly. The tide will at 
once swirl the bait along and the fish generally snap 
at it immediately. Many fishermen coax the weakfish 
by pulling the bait away from them instead of letting 
it drift; but timid fish are much more likely to snap 
at something that drifts naturally with the tide than 
at something that moves against it. 

€[ Combinations of bait often prove successful when weak- 
fish are nibbling. Put a shrimp, killie or worm on 
the hook and cover the point and barb with a bright 
bit of clam, or run the hook through the body of a 
soft clam and then hook on a killie through the lips. 
^ It is always well to have a variety of baits. 
Shrimp, bloodworm and sandworm are best in late May 
and in June. After that, and till the fish depart in 
early November, shedder crab usually leads as bait, but 
there are times when shrimp will be most successful. 
^ They will often bite at strips of mossbunker, herring, 
snappers, porgies, lafayettes or sea-robins when nothing 
else will tempt them. Live killies will take the largest 
fish, especially early and late in the season, when the 
great tide-runners hunt by themselves. 

^ The writer has taken weakfish on clam, both hard 
and soft, when they refused shrimp and shedder crab. 
Whatever bait may be used must be absolutely fresh. 
Only rarely will weakfish take stale shedder or shrimp 
that have been dead for any length of time. 
^ Surface fishing can be done with or without a float- 
The most simple rig is to attach the hook to a 2 or 
3 foot leader which is tied directly to the line. No 
sinker is used unless the current is so swift that it 
forces the bait to the top. In that case small sinkers 
(see No. 12 on sinker chart) or split shot (see No. 13 
on sinker chart) should be fastened to the leader a foot 
above the hook. The sinker charb is on page 57. 

[36] 



^ If used without a float, this rig is allowed to drift 
off with the tide. Ever3' few minutes the line must be 
pulled taut to prevent the bait from sinking to the 
bottom. Then a little more line is played out. This 
process is repeated till 150 or 200 feet of line are out 
or even more if the current will carr};- it. Then the 
line should be reeled in slowly, stopping every few min- 
utes and giving it a smart jerk. Weakfish often follow 
a bait and strike when it is jerked. 

^ If the current is too feeble to carry the line away, 
a float should be attached just above the leader. Do 
not use a heavy float with a light rod. It will in- 
terfere with striking the fish. 

^ Hooks with pearl squids are ver3" popular for this 
kind of fishing, but sometimes the fish will take plain 
hooks in preference. No one can tell beforehand. The 
onh' wa}' to find out is to experiment. Weakfish 
change their habits according to circumstances. 
^ When the fish are running deep, the rig is quite dif- 
ferent. Tie a sinker to the end of the line, preferably 
of the style like No. 9 in the sinker chart. It must 
be heavy enough to go to the bottom, but not heavy 
enough to stay there motionless. It should move a few 
feet with the tide every time it is lifted. 
^ A 2 or 3 foot leader is tied to the line immediately 
above the sinker or 1 or 2 feet above, according to 
the way the fish are running. About 3 feet above 
this, tie another leader, 3 or 4 feet long. Good swiv- 
els should be used to connect the leaders to the line 
to prevent snarling. 

^ As soon as this rig touches bottom, the fisherman 
must begin to lift it, let it move off a few feet, lift 
it again and so on, till he has let out as much line 
as possible. Sometimes the fish do not take hold till 
the bait has moved 200 or more feet away from the 
boat. Then draw it in by similar slow degrees. 
^ Whatever method of fishing is used, chumming must 
be done constantly. This is one of the most import- 

[37 1 



ant things in weakfishing. Shrimp makes the best 
chum. Pinch each one to kill it before tossing it over- 
board. If thrown over alive they often scatter too far, 
as they can dart big distances. It is impossible to use 
too many shrimp. From 1 to 2 dozen should be 
thrown out each time. If the tide is swift, toss them 
as far ahead of the bow as possible. In slack tides, 
throw them where your line is. 

^ If shrimp are scarce, mince porgies, lafayettes, small 
snappers, killies or spearing, but be sure to make ver3^ 
tiny bits. This stuff sinks quickly. Therefore, too much 
must not be thrown out at one time, or it will at- 
tract dogfish and crabs. If none of these baits can be 
obtained, cut clam or mussels up and save every frag- 
ment of shedder crab shells and even bread crumbs and 
egg shells or other remnants of food. 

^ Any noise that can be carried through the water is 
likely to frighten the fish. When approaching the fish- 
ing ground, do not row over it, but drop down on it 
with the tide if possible. Lower the anchor without a 
splash and give it only enough cable to hold securely. 
Do not shuffle the feet on the bottom of the boat, 
drop oars or pound clams, etc., on the gunwale or 
thwarts of the boat. 

^ Weakfish arrive early in May and immediately run 
tow^ard the heads of bays to spawn. This operation 
is completed by the majority of the fish by the middle 
of May, though some fish full of spawn are taken in 
June. 

^ They do not bite freely when they arrive, but fish 
are caught every year beyond the Trestle Work, Ja- 
maica Bay and in Great Kills, Giffords, Staten Island, 
as early as May 15, Good fishing, however, rarely be- 
gins before the end of May. The fish bite through the 
summer and until the end of October. 

^ Weakfish ranging from Vz to IV2 pounds usually swim 
in schools which generally contain several hundred fish 
but sometimes number manj- thousands. Fish ranging 

[38] 



from 2 to 5 pounds do not usually swim in schools 
except in the open sea where large schools of fish run- 
ning up to 12 and 15 pounds are found at times. 
These rarely enter the ba^^s. 

^ As a rule the weakfish in Jamaica and Great South 
Bays run large, the average probably being 2 pounds, 
while fish weighing from 3 to 5 pounds are taken in 
some numbers. EYer3^ season a few fish weighing more 
are caught. The records for Jamaica Bay show fish 
weighing 7, 8, 9% and 11 pounds. 

^ The weakfish taken on the Staten Island side of New- 
York Bay run smaller, being generally school fish not 
exceeding an average of 1 pound. They are, however, 
wonderfully plentiful, so that catches of 50 and even 
100 to a single rod are not unusual in a good sea- 
son. The best grounds are the oyster beds extending 
along Staten Island from Great Kills to Tottenville. 
^ Very large fish are taken now and then along the 
north shore of Long Island Sound, especially when troll- 
ing for striped bass at night around the rocks of such 
places as Larchmont, etc. 

^ In Narragansett Bay weakfish ranging from 6 to 10 
pounds and more are plentiful, and many are caught 
that far exceed this weight. In New York waters the 
average angler considers a 2V^ pound fish very good. 
^ On o\'ster beds and other open w^aters where the 
depth is from 6 to 15 feet at high tide, the best fish- 
ing usually is from half flood to half ebb. In creeks 
and small bays fishing is best as near high tide as 
possible. In large, deep channels, the last half of the 
ebb is generally to be preferred. The largest fish are 
generally taken near banks or shores at flood tide at 
night when thej^ run in to feed. 

^ "Jigging" is successful often. The fisherman lets the 
boat drift over shoal water and uses a hand line with 
a brightly scraped lead squid without bait. The line 
is jerked up and down watli a sawing motion. 
^ Most fishermen use exceedingh' large hooks. The pop- 

[39] 



ular size is probably 6/0 Limerick or 5/0 Carlisle, Sproat 
or Kirbj, as shown on the chart in this book. The 
largest hook that the writer has used in many years 
is 1/0 Sproat, and he has found that this hook will 
hold weakfish of four pounds perfectly, 

^ A great deal, however, depends on the fisherman. 
There is no doubt that 1/0 Sproat w^ould seem far too 
small to most experienced anglers. A 3/0 Sproat or a 
4/0 Limerick, Kirby or Carlisle should, however, be large 
enough for any fish except the great sea-run weakfish 
that v^eigh more than 10 pounds. 

^ For school fith averaging % to 1 pound, a number 
1 Sproat or O'Shaughnessy, or a number 1/0 Carlisle, 
Limerick or Kirby should answer perfectl3'. If fish are 
very shy, an Aberdeen hook will often succeed because 
it is so thin that it is hardly visible in the water. 
But this thinness makes it likely to rip through the 
thin jaws of the fish. 

^ The best shape of hook for weakfish is the Sproat 
or O'Shaughnessy. If the sportsman feels enough confi- 
dence in his skill, he should use hooks with nothing 
heavier than double-gut snells and leaders. An expert 
can hold fish of any reasonable size with these if his 
rod is flexible enough to take up sudden strains. 

^ When w^eakfish swim slowly about wath the tips of 
their dorsal fins showing above the surface, they are 
generally exasperatingly backward about biting. The 

writer has succeeded sometimes, not alwaj-s, by tying 
Aberdeen or Sproat hooks as small as numbers 6 and 
7 to very light mist-colored leaders and baiting w^ith a 
single shrimp put on with its head up the shank of 
the hook while the point and barb were just covered 
by its tail. This rig, without sinker or float, was 
tossed overboard very quietly and allowed to drift far 
astern. When weakfish strike such small hooks, they 
must be allowed to run free for a few seconds so that 
they will take the hook well into their throats, other- 
wise they will not hold. 

[40] 




STRIPED BASS. '^^^ striped bass is the most 

difficult to find of all our local 

fish. It has the most unaccountable moods everywhere 
from the Chesapeake to Cape Cod. It is, however, the 
most eagerly sought of all fish, because it is not only 
game to the heart, but because there is always a 
chance that a very large one will take hold even in a 
tiny creek. 

^ Every ^-ear a few large bass ranging from 10 to 20 
pounds are caught in the shallow, narrow, grassy creeks 
near the trestle work in Jamaica Bay. The lucky ang- 
lers rarely get more than one large fish in a day, how- 
ever, and they often try for weeks without a single 
strike. 

^ The most likely way to get large bass is by casting 
into the surf along Long Island, or on the New 
Jersey beach from the Highlands to Ocean City. As- 
bur^' Park and Deal Beach have always offered the best 
fishing there. 

^ The favorite Asbury Park rig is a pyramid-shaped 
sinker (see number 3 in sinker chart.) In ordinary surf 
3 ounce is heavy enough. In very high seas and bad 
undertow 5 ounce is used. About 2 feet above the 
sinker a 2 foot leader of triple or quadruple gut is 
fastened to the line with a double action swivel like 
No. 10 in the swivel chart in this book. The hook 
is a 6/0 tempered O'Shaughnessy. A medium stiff rod 
with very large agate guides is used. The reel must 

[41] 



be large enough to hold 600 feet of 21 thread line. 
Bloodworms, shedder crab and skimmer clams are the 
best bait. The length of the cast varies according to 
locality. Generally it is necessary to cast 100 to 150 
feet and in some spots longer casts are demanded. 

^ June and September are the best months; but there 
have been years when the records for number and size 
of big fish were made in August. The fishing generally 
lasts into October. The records show fish weighing from 
5 pounds to 65 pounds. 

^ Long Beach, L. I., is another good place though the 
fish do not seem as plentiful there as on the New Jer- 
sey coast. The same style rig is used but very long 
casts are required. An excellent place for very large 
bass is at Montauk Point, L. I., where fish weighing 
from 35 to 65 pounds have been taken in recent years. 
Twenty years ago several fish of more than 70 pounds 
were hooked. Late summer is best there. 
^ July is the best month at Block Island on the Sound. 
^ Fishermen trying the surf casting anywhere on our 
coasts must, however, be prepared for disappointment. 
Even in the most reliable places the fishing is uncer- 
tain. The famous Cuttjdiunk and Pasque Island clubs 
at Buzzard's Bay, Mass., have years when hardly any 
fish are taken and the same is true of the South Side 
Sportsman's Club at Oakdale, L. I., whose fishing in 
Great River is generally excellent. 

^ A fair number of large bass is taken by casting from 
shore along the Hudson River from Riverside Drive, N. Y. 
City all the way to Croton and beyond. The rig, 
bait and method of fishing are the same as for surf 
casting except that the sinker and line are lighter. 
Most of the fish range from V2 pound to 10 pounds. 
Very few^ weigh more, nowadays, though in past years 
the Hudson River bass records showed fish of more 
than 70 pounds. 

^ Many Hudson River fishermen use tiny bits ot cork 
on the leaders to keep them away from the crabs on the 

[42] 



bottom. Much tackle is lost bj fouling the stones. The 
river fishing begins in May and lasts to November. 

^ Very large baits are used for surf and river fishing. 
One large bloodworm or sand worm is threaded on the 
hook and drawn over the shank and well up the gut, 
leaving only an inch or so of his tail to dangle. Then 
another large worm is put on so as to cover the rest 
of the hook, leaving a good part of his tail to float 
free. Many expert anglers use three and even four 
worms on one hook. 

^ The three hours before high tide and the first hour 
after it are the best for surf and river fishing. The 
striped bass root on the bottom for w^orms and simi- 
lar food and love to work close in to shore. The 
richest place for such food is at low water mark or a 
little beyond. The fish cannot approach this, of course, 
till the tide is well up. On gently sloping beaches low^ 
water mark will be from 50 to 100 feet outside of 
high water mark. 

^ In the more inclosed bays such as Jamaica and Great 
South Bays, the bass like to run up grassy creeks that 
have steep sod banks where they can browse at high 
tide. Although very large fish run into these places, 
the average will not weigh more than 2 pounds and 
there will be many smaller fish. They are much more 
shy in such confined waters and the tackle must be 
finer. They do not feed so much on bottom, but 
browse along the sods and if there are sedges, they 
are most likely to be feeding on the surface. 

^ The tackle in these places is very simple. No sinker 
is used. A number 1^ Sproat or O'Shaughnessy hook 
is attached to the end of the line with a four or six 
foot leader. Shrimp, shedder, worm or live killies may 
be used for bait. The boat is pulled close to the 
bank, the anchor being laid on shore. If this cannot 
be done, the boat should be anchored across the chan- 
nel with bow and stern anchors, one lying on shore 
the other on the opposite side of the channel so 

[43] 



that there will be no anchor rope in the channel itself 
to frighten the fish. 

^ The fisherman must be very quiet. The bait is cast 
gently down the tide and allowed to float close along 
the grass, sometimes being permitted to sink almost to 
the bottom and then being brought up to the surface. 
Three hundred or more feet of line are thus played out, 
the bait being kept in constant, but gentle motion. 
In deep channels with a very swift current, this rig 
may be weighted with a sinker heavy enough to keep 
it five or six feet below the surface but not so heavy 
that it will not freely move with the tide. 
^ Still another method of fishing is trolling, used to 
some extent in creeks and around the sod banks of isl- 
ands in bays, but used mostly along open beaches and 
at rocky shores and reefs such as the shores from Hell 
Gate, N. Y., to Larchmont, Mamaroneck, South Nor walk, 
etc. Trolling is done with a rig much like that described 
for creek fishing, but the line and leader must have 
two or three good swivels like Nos. 7 or 8 in swivel 
chart. Some fishermen use a bright nickel-plated spin- 
ner above the hook. It must be small. The boat is 
rowed about 3 miles an hour along shore, as close as 
possible to the rocks or sods, and the fisherman lets 
out about 100 to 125 feet of line. 

^ Corson's Inlet, N. J. and Port Deposit to Conowingo 
at the mouth of the Susquehanna River are famous for 
trolling for very large bass. The favorite baits are 
bloodworms, eel-tail and mullet. Hooks as large as 
10/0 Sproat are used. The fish run extremely large 
and powerful tackle is needed. Corson's Inlet is much 
more reliable than the Susquehanna. In the latter place 
fishing is useless till the river is just right. The fish 
are known as rock-fish there and in the South. 
^ Both in bays and the open ocean the striped bass 
prefer to venture near shore at night. The chances for 
a good catch are always better then than in the day 
time, especially in the case of large fish. 

[44] 




Bluefi&h 



BLUEFISH: SNAPPERS. This is the tamest of 

— ^^— ^— ^— — — — — — ^-^— — all salt-water fish around 

New York. Many expert anglers declare that it is a 
much better fighter than black bass or any fish except 
salmon. It is enormously plentiful some years and 
scarce in others. Its arrival probably depends largely 
on the food supply. 

^ The large bluefish, ranging from 6 to 12 pounds, 
and sometimes reaching 15 to 20 pounds, stay in the 
open sea. The nearest they ever come to shore is 
when they drive mossbunkers, herring or spearing into 
the surf. They hardly ever enter the quiet waters in- 
side of the inlets near New York. 

^ The bluefish that come into Great South, Jamaica, 
Gravesend, Raritan and Barnegat Bays hardly ever reach 
5 pounds and probably average only 2 pounds. 
^ In August the young bluefish fill bays and creeks and 
run up and down rivers, swimming up the Hudson 
River as far as Croton. Early in the season they are 
only 6 or 7 inches long. By October they will range 
from 10 to 14 inches and weigh up to 1 pound, aver- 
aging about % pound. Even at that late date, how- 
ever, there will be big schools of 6 and 7 inch fish. 
^ The large fish in the open sea are taken almost en- 
tirely by trolling from a sailboat or power boat going 
swiftly. The fisherman must depend upon his captain 
for fish. The fisherman tows a heavy hand line to 
which is tied a 7/0, 8/0 or even 9/0 Limerick hook 
set in a "squid," a solid block of tin, lead, bone or a 

[45] 



piece of round cedar. About 150 or 200 feet of line 

is played out. The savage fish hooks himself and 

must then be hauled in bA^ main strength. Many fish 

are lost because they suddenly over-run the line and 
shake themselves free or even bite the line in tv^^o. 

^ A still more arduous, but expensive and difficult w^a^' 
to fish for the big ones is with rod and reel from an 
anchored boat, while a man is kept busy grinding up 
mossbunkers and throwing the fragments overboard fin- 
"chum." The chum must be thrown out in such a 
way as to have no break in the slick. The fisherman, 
armed with a strong rod and an immense reel capable 
of holding 800 feet of heavy line, fastens a 4 or 5 
foot leader of tempered steel or piano wire with a No. 
1 Virginia or 5/0 O'Shaughnessy hook to the end of 
the line, puts on a square piece of mossbunker and 
tosses it among the "chum." The fish generally take 
the bait only while it is floating out. If none strike 
it then, it must be recovered and tossed over again. 
It is furious work when a 10 or 12 pound fish takes 
hold, and only experts can handle such a fish on the rod. 
^ Fishing for the smaller bay bluefish is done much the 
same way, only with tackle much lighter, while the 
"chum" is often spearing or killies although mossbunk- 
ers are best. The stuff must be minced very fine. Live 
killies are best for bait inside of the bays because the 
fish there feed mostly on killies, spearing, shiners or 
very small herring. In the absence of live bait, hov.-- 
ever, shedder crab, spearing or mossbunker answer Some- 
times a piece of bluefish will beat any other bait. 
^ Only one hook is used. It should be mounted on a 
3 foot length of thin wire or on gimp, as the bluefish 
can bite ordinary snells ofi" as if they were cut with 
scissors. A pearl squid is excellent, providing it is set 
on a well-shaped hook. If a plain hook is used, let 
it be a Carlisle No. 4/0. This will catch a IV2 pound 
fish and also answer perfectly for a 2^ pounder. If 
the fish are running larger, a 5/0 is a better size^ 

[46] 



^ No sinker is used unless the tide is very swift. 
Then enough split shot (see No. 13 in sinker chart) 
should be pinched on the line above the leader to sink 
the bait about three feet below the surface. If the 
tide is not strong enough to carry tlie line away from 
the boat, a small float should be put on above the 
leader. 

^ When the fish are in big schools, they are often so 
desperate in their rushes for food that they will come 
close to the boat ; but generally they stay fifty or a 
hundred feet astern. Therefore the bait should be cast 
among the chum as far as possible from the boat and 
the line should be paid out freely. 

^ Hardly ever is it necessary to strike the fish. They 
never nibble and rarely play with the bait, but snap at 
it fiercely and instantly rush away with tremendous speed 
and violence, giving the fisherman no warning. Often 
the first intimation a man has that he has hooked a 
bluefish is wiien the fish jumps out of the water. 

^ The fight that follows is savage in the extreme. The 
fish will run deep, throwing himself over and over as 
he goes down. Then he will flash as suddenly to the 
surface, jump from 1 to 3 feet high, and hurl himself 
back into the water headfirst. Generally he will turn 
over twice while in the air, shaking his head like a 
terrier. 

^ To haul with dead strength against such a fish is 
to risk smashed tackle. When the bluefish wants line, 
he is bound to take it. Yet though he must be 
humored, it is equally important that he shall get no 
slack line. Almost every hooked bluefish shakes his 
head more or less continually and at an^- moment an 
inch of slack may enable him to shake the hook out. 
The fisherman cannot always avoid slack line, however, 
because the favorite trick of the bluefish is to turn sud- 
denly in the middle of a mad rush and to drive 
toward the boat like the living bolt of lightning that 
he is. 

[47] 



^ Inexperienced anglers alwa3^s stop reeling in disappoint- 
ment when their line suddenly slackens and the rod 
straightens out ; but that is the very time to do the 
quickest work. The fisherman must immediately reel as 
fast as he can turn the handle, at the same time rais- 
ing his rod and swaying it back as far as possible in 
order to gather the slack in the shortest time. If the 
boat is large enough, he should also walk along the 
deck in order to hasten the operation. 

^ A bluefish may establish slack line a number of times 
before he can be brought to the boat. When he be- 
gins to 3'ield, however, he has another dangerous trick 
in reserve. He will stop suddenly at sight of the boat 
and make one last run as furious as if he were fresh- 
ly hooked. Usually he will dive and dash under the 
boat, coming to the surface some distance away on the 
other side. This of course places line and rod into a 
very difficult position unless the fisherman is prepared 
for the trick by keeping the tip of the rod pointing as 
nearly astern as possible so that the line can be guided 
around the stern. 

^ There is very little use in fishing for bluefish without 
a plentiful supply of chum. A school will flash past 
the boat at the rate of 100 miles an hour, so that 
in less than one minute the fish may be a mile away. 
The only way to hold them is to chum desperately 
the moment they appear. Some fishermen have a small 
meat chopper screwed to the gunwale and can thus 
grind out chum v\rith one hand while fishing with the 
<ither. 

^ The general habit of these bay bluefish is to swim 
in rather compact bunches, keeping close to the deepest 
water and usually moving with the tide, although of 
course they keep continually darting back and forth also. 
When they find a school of spearing, killies, mossbunk- 
ers or herring, they dash forward to surround it and 
at the same time they sink so as to get under it, 
working just the way a purse-seine does. It is then 

[48] 



after they have cut the school up and have begun to 
scatter after fleeing stragglers that the^^ are likely to 
take the baited hook. 

^ It is then that their savage pursuit of the little fish 
makes them rush into the shoals and over bars blind- 
ly. But they dash back again into deep water in- 
stantly. The place to fish lor them at such times is 
in the channels, baiting with killies about 2^2 inches 
long or wnth spearing. Keep the bait in continual mo- 
tion, jerking it with forcible movements of the rod, but 
always letting it swirl away again swiftly with the tide. 

^ If the bluefish are not in sight on the surface, the 
place to look for them is wherever two deep channels 
meet and make an eddy, or the tossing, boiling commo- 
tion known as "tide-rip" in water at least 10 feet 
deep at low tide. Excellent places generally are where 
the point of a bar drops abruptly into deep water, so 
that the tide sweeping by makes swirls and little whirl- 
pools. Occasionally there will be found spots in deep 
channels where there is comparatively slack water even 
at the fiercest tide-rush. These slack spots are almost 
certain to attract bluefish because the straggling bait 
fish huddle there. Very often, however, the bluefish will 
not venture into the slack water itself, but stay just 
outside, on the edge of the current, waiting for the tide 
to carry victims to them. The fisherman should anchor 
his boat above the eddy or tide-rip so that his bait 
can drift down the tide about a hundred feet to the 
spot where the fish are. A light quill float will be 
advantageous in this kind of fishing. The best time is 
during two hours before high water and two hours after, 

^ Young bluefish, which are better known as snappers, 
have nearly the same habits and will be found in the 
same places as described here for the adult bluefish. 
But they are much less wary and will go into much 
shoaler water, so that it is easier to find and catch 
them. 

[49] 



^ When the tide is a little more than half high, the 
little snappers like to run up creeks. Wherever a creek 
makes a sudden bend, there is always a good chance 
for snappers by anchoring so that the tide will carry 
the bait toward the point of the bank. The little kil- 
lies and spearing generally swim out of the current and 
gather in bunches in quiet places like this. The best 
spots of all in creeks are where there are old mill 
dams, the remains of the tidal mills of past days. The 
swift water carries the spearing, shrimp, etc., down help- 
lessly and snappers will gather in hundreds just below 
the rushing eddies to snatch them. 

^ The same reason brings snappers in schools around 
piers that jut into water where the tide is swift. This 
makes ocean piers excellent for snapper fishing. When 
they are plentiful, they will scatter over oyster beds 
and flats and take the hook anywhere. But the best 
places always are near points of land, piers, bars and 
other places where the tide is swift enough to make 
swirls and where the water is from 10 to 30 feet deep 
at low tide. The best fishing time is three hours be- 
fore and two hours after high water. 

^ It is not necessary to use wnre leaders but a Yer3' 
long shanked hook must be used. The tackle should 
be fine, for the little bluefish are cunning. The best 
rig for snappers ranging from i/4 to y2 pound is a 
number 3 Carlisle hook on a 3 foot mist-colored leader, 
with a very light quill float just above the leader so 
that the bait will be about 3 feet below the surface. 
The best bait is spearing. Run the hook through the 
spearing just under the tail, let the point come out 
about the center of the little fish, draw the tail up 
over the shank of the hook to the gut and then put 
the point of the hook into the spearing's mouth so 
that it will protrude at its gills. Spearing cannot be 
kept alive on the hook. Live killies are excellent bait. 
Pieces of snapper are almost equally good. A bit of 
pearl or tinfoil is good on the hook. 

[50.1 




BLACKFISH. Mussel or "cinder" bottom; or rocks, 
spiles and wrecks covered with barna- 
cles, are the places for blackfish or tautog. Oyster 
beds are often good, but not always. In creeks they 
feed close to steep sedgy banks that descend sharply 
into from 7 to 15 feet of water. If deeper holes ex- 
ist, the chances are usually good for large fish. 
^ They are bottom feeders and like very deep water. They 
stay close to the feeding place, tearing the barnacles, 
borers and other shell-growth away with sharp tugging 
nips. The line must, therefore, be kept motionless and 
close to the spiles, rocks or banks. 

^ There is no fishing where it is more important to 
drop the line into exactly the right places. A com- 
paratively small patch of mussels, rocks or wreckage 
may be crowded with blackfish while the bottom for 
acres or even miles around it will not have any fish. 
Therefore, a few feet will often make all the difference 
between a good catch of fish and none. When feeding 
over a small place, blackfish often herd so closely that 
they shoulder each other. They browse over a chosen 
ground very much like a flock of sheep. 
^ Usually they feed with their heads pointing downward, 
and they make quick, forcible darts at the food like 
the pecking of birds. This swift attack makes them 

[5U 



very clever at stealing bait w^ithout getting hooked. It 
is necessary therefore to have the line under full com- 
mand all the time. 

^ It is a mistake, however, to strike at the first nip, 
because blackfish hardly ever gulp bait. They use their 
front teeth to nip off the shellfish from their clinging 
places. Then they pass it on to be crushed between 
crusher-teeth in the backs of their mouths. If they feel 
anything wrong before the food has passed beyond the 
front nipping-teeth, blackfish wall spit out the bait at 
once. They will not return to a bait that they have 
once left like this. 

^ When you feel the first nip, give the fish time. Do 
not move the line in the least. Wait till the nipping 
gives place to a strong jerk that tells unmistakably that 
the fish has the hook. Most fishermen lose fish by 
being too eager. The very largest blackfish are often 
the slowest about taking the bait in and must be 
treated with the greatest care. 

^ The fish caught inside of the bays average about IV2 
pounds, but there is always a good chance for fish 
weighing 3 and 4 pounds and a few running 6 to 8 
pounds are caught every year. 

^ Off shore the blackfish probably average 3 pounds, 
but many weighing from 6 to 8 pounds are taken on 
almost every trip of the party boats and occasionally 
a fish weighing 10 pounds or more is caught. The 
largest recorded weighed a little less than 25 pounds. 
^ Fishing inside of the inlets begins in April. At this 
time the blackfish in the bays usually run larger than 
they do later, and the fish will often average 2^^ or 3 
pounds. They are, however, full of spawn. 
^ Toward the end of May they move from the bays 
and the off-shore fishing begins in earnest. Bay fishing 
continues through the summer, but the large fish are 
outside. July and August are iisually poor months. In 
September, fishing both inside and outside starts briskly. 
It continues till November inside. Then the fish go to 

[52] 



deep water and bite off shore through November and 
December and all through mild winters. So far as 
known, blackfish do not migrate but hibernate in very 
cold weather, going into mud, rock-crevices or wrecks. 
^ No leaders are needed for them. They are not shy. 
The lowest hook should be tied i^ to 1 inch above the 
sinker and two others are fastened just far enough 
above each other to avoid tangling. In bad spots, 
like wrecks, it is wise to use only one hook especially 
if the fish run large. A hooked blackfish invariably 
bores straight downward for the worst place he can 
find and tries to swim into a crevice. If other hooks 
are dangling free then, they will foul somewhere. 
^ Under any circumstances, extra tackle must be carried 
when fishing wrecks or rough reefs. Sinkers generally 
foul more than hooks. Many fishermen attach sinkers 
to the fishing line with a bit of weak twine or soft 
wire so that they can save the rest of the tackle if 
the sinker catches badly. 

^ Heav\' sinkers are needed both inside and outside. 
In the bays the largest blackfish often bite best at the 
top of the tide rush in the deep channels, and a sinker 
weighing from 5 to 7 ounces is needed to hold bot- 
tom. For outside fishing use 6 to 10 ounce sinkers. 
^ This makes it necessary to use a stiff rod because 
the fish must be struck with great force to drive the 
barb into his hard mouth. A very flexible rod is of 
little use except in perfectly still, shoal water. 
C|I All the tackle must be strong. The downward surge 
of even a 2-pound blackfish is surprisingly powerful, 
and whenever the fishing ground is at all rough, the 
fish must be kept away from bottom or from the spiles 
or rocks by main strength or they will tangle the 
line or pull it against the knife-like barnacles. 
^ The bait mostly used by the Fishing Bank boats is 
the calico or stone crab or the common blue crab in 
its hard or shedder state. The back shell is lifted 
away and the legs are broken off, leaving the first 

. [5.3] 



joints next to the bod\\ The crab is then cut up in 
such a waj^ as to leave a piece of leg with each piece 
of body. The hook is run through the body part 
and out through the bony ring of the shell into the 
leg part. A crab will thus make from 6 to 8 baits. 
^ An almost sure bait for blackfish is the tail of the 
large hermit crab that lives in the deep-sea conch shell. 
It is very hard to get. Another almost certain bait 
is the black deep-water mussel; bat it is hard to keep 
on the hook unless whipped on with thread. 

^ An easier bait to get and the best one for general 
purposes is the china-1)ack fiddler crab, which lives in 
burrows on white sand beaches. The dark fiddler, 
found on sedgy banks and mud, is not so good. To 
hook the fiddler, pull out a claw and insert the hook 
in the hole it leaves. The point of the hook should 
remain hidden in the shell. 

^ Sandworms and hard, soft or skimmer clams are 
good. Bay blackfish generally prefer sandworm to clam 
and in summer will often take shrimp. Sometimes a 
shrimp with a bit of hard clam on the point of the 
hook will succeed when the fish bite poorly. 

^ Off shore fishing is best at the following places: the 
"Fishing Banks," which comprise a number of good 
spots in the open ocean off the Long Island and New 
Jersey coasts; Iberia wreck off Long Beach; Black War- 
rior wreck off Rockaway Beach; mussel beds between 
Sandy Hook and Long Beach and extending well 
toward Jamaica and Shcepshead Bays. 

^ Probably the best blackfishing ground for small boats 
is the Stone Pile which lies a few hundred feet off the 
Coney Island Beach, between the Manhattan Beach and 
Oriental Hotels. It can be reached by a short pull 
from Sheepshead Bay. 

^ In Jamaica Bay the best blackfishing is along the 
Long Island Railroad trestle work and in Beach, Fish- 
kill and Steamboat Channels. Other places are the Cart- 
wheel, Ruffle Bar, Black Wall and the stone dock on 

[54] 



Barren Island. Hassock and Irish creeks furnish some 
fish in the deeper holes, 

^ A wreck at the Bell Buoy off Coney Island east of 
the Iron piers is excellent for small blackfish. The 
twenty-foot channel in Raritan Ba\' is fairly good. An 
excellent spot in this bay is the Monument, composed 
of stones that mark the boundary between New Jer- 
sey and New York. The autumn is best there. 
C| In Hempstead Bay, L. I., there is good blackfishing 
along the Long Beach R.R. trestle work. The water 
is deep there and the fish run to a fair size. 
^ Excellent fishing is found at the entrance to Long 
Island Sound, off Throg's Neck, around City and Hart 
Islands and over the deep reefs of Sands Point and 
the Stepping Stones and Execution Rocks. 

^ Blackfish have a curious habit of lying on bottom on 
their sides or even l^'ing head-down in some hole in the 
rocks just large enough to hold them. In April and 
May, while the spawning-time lasts, bunches of black- 
fish sticking closely together, will swim in great circles 
on the surface with their backs out of the water. Gen- 
erally these bunches consist mostly of male fish follow- 
ing a few females or only one. They will not bite 
when they are thus playing on the surface. 
^ The mouth of blackfish is small, and the thick, 
tough lips are drawn tightly over the flat teeth. There- 
fore the hook must be comparatively small. The hook to 
be used is the style known as Blackfish hook or Virginia 
hook. Number 7 is large enough for bay fishing 
wherever the fish will not exceed 2 or 3 pounds. 
Number 6 v^ill hold a 7 or 8 pound fish, but it will 
not do to strain too hard in fighting him or to lift 
him out of the water, because the steel of so small a 
hook is too thin. Where such large fish ate expected 
and for outside fishing a number 3 hook should answer 
all demands. If extremely large fish are expected, some 
number 2 hooks should be carried along. See the chart 
in the back which shows exact sizes of these hooks. 

[55] 



No 
No 
No 
No 



No 
No 
No 



Qsa^^^SflQ 



QiiifSiiO 




S\/VIVELS USED BY FISHERMEN. 

Brass to Buckle. No. G Steel Hook. 

Watch Spring. No. 7 Brass Box. 

Brass Corkscrew. No. 8 Brass Barrel.. 

Patent Spring. No. 9 Treble. 

No. 5 Special Link. No. 10 Cross Line. 

Spreader is shown closed. 

SINKERS USED BY FISHERMEN. 

Bank. No. 9 Bass Casting or Swivel 
Swivel Diamond Casting. Dipsey. 

Pyramid. No. 10 Egg. 



No. 4 Hollow Running. 

No, 5 Ringed. 

No. 6 Barrel Shaped Swivel. 

No. 7 Adjustable Spiral. 

No. 8 Square. 



No. 11 Clincher 

No. 12 Mackinac. 

No. 13 Split Shot. 

No. 14. Lead Coil. 

No. 15 Lead Worm. 



Some anglers use hollow lead pipe for sinkers. The3' claim 
that the tide turns this sinker lengthwise and that the rushing 
water will pass through it allowing the sinker to hold bottom. 
See opposite page. 

[56] 



SINKERS 




f/pcLje, 



FISH FACTS. Fluke and flounders belong to the 

■ same family. There are several other 

flatfish around Ne"w York. One is the "window pane" 
or "sun dial,"' which has toothed jaws and otherwise 
looks much like the fluke except for its light color, 
much like sand, and the bright spots on its back. It 
averages about a pound and is not common. It gets 
its name because it is partly transparent. There are 
three very small flatfish almost exactly like the common 
flounder — the sand dab, sand flounder and the small- 
mouthed flounder. There is also a tiny flatfish known 
ag sole. None of these are plentiful. 

^ Blackfish and bergalls belong to the same family, 
known as wrasse fishes. There are no other fish of 
this family on our coast. 

^ The weakfish, also known by the Narragansett Indian 
name Squeteague, belongs to a family called Croakers. 
The red and black drum, lafayette and kingfish belong 
to this family. There is a kingfish in Florida waters 
that is quite different, belonging to the mackerel family. 
Our northern kingfish is known as hake, whiting and 
Bermuda whiting from the New Jersey coast south. 

^ Porgies (Narragansett Indian name Scuppaug) belong 
to the same family as the sheepshead, which is a porgy 
though it lives with and has the habits of blackfish. 
There is one other porgy, the Sailor's Choice, which 
hardly ever comes to our waters. It has golden stripes 
and dark vertical bands. 

^ Sea bass, striped bass and white perch belong to the 
family grouped as sea basses. The white perch used to 
be common around New York, running into salt water 
from the rivers in autumn. They are rare now. 
^ Bluefish belong to a family by themselves. 
^ Menhaden or mossbunkers, sea herring and shad be- 
long to the herring family. About 10 diflerent herrings 
come into our waters. Menhaden will not take a hook 
and are valuable onl3^ for bait. 
^ The deep sea or conger eel belongs to the same 

[58] 



species as the common eel but a different family. A 
fish often caught on the fishing banks and called conger 
eel is not an eel at all. Its correct name is mutton 
fish or eel-pout. The true conger eel is also caught 
on the fishing banks. 

^ The butterfish which used to be most plentiful around 
New York, is pretty rare now. It belongs to a family 
by itself. A few are caught occasionally while fishing 
for sand porgies and lafayettes. The\" are small. 

^ Bonitos are mackerel fishes like Spanish mackerel. 
Both are taken only by trolling in the open sea. Some- 
times big schools are struck. Bluefish tackle takes them. 
The tunny or horse mackerel belongs to this famih'. 
This is the same fish as the famous "Tuna'' of South- 
ern California. On July 31, 1908, four were hooked b}- 
Captain J. B. Thompson while trolling for bluefish off 
Ocean Grove, N. J. Three broke the lines. One was 
landed. It weighed 46 pounds. A small mackerel, 
usually 6 to 8 inches long sometimes runs into shore 
in extraordinary quantities. There was a famous run 
in 1896 when they were so plentiful that people dipped 
them up with scoop nets and even hands everywhere 
from Coney Island to Fort Hamilton. This is the 
chub mackerel, also called "tinker" and "thimble eye." 
It appears only occasionally. The common mackerel of 
the markets hardly ever ventures into our baj'S. 
^ Smelts are not related to spearing. 

^ Sea robins and hackleheads belong to different families. 
Sea robins are gurnards. There are four varieties in 
our waters — the common or web-fingered, the red-winged 
or striped, the big-headed and the fl3^ing sea robin. 
The latter is very rare. The hackleheads belong to the 
sculpin family. There are four varieties — the 18 spined, 
which is the one commonly caught; the brassy sculpin, 
which rarely grows more than 6 inches long; the dadd^-, 
which often reaches 2 feet and is very rare indeed : and 
the sea raven which is caught frequently on the fishing 
banks but hardly ever in-shore. 

[59] 



GUT LEADERS. ^^^ material of which leaders 

and snells are made comes from 

the silkworm, but it is not taken like silk, from the 
cocoons spun by the worm. To get the leader gut, 
the silkworm is killed just before he spins his cocoon, 
by being dropped into a very carefully made mixture of 
vinegar and water. When sufficiently pickled, the worms 
are torn open to get at the two silk sacks. The silk 
sack is pulled apart, which stretches the contents out 
to the desired length. Two strands are obtained from 
each worm. They harden almost at once, and this 
gut is stretched on a board to dry. After that it 
is thoroughly cleaned, sorted and tied into bundles for 
shipment. 

^ The Province of Murcia in Spain has almost a mo- 
nopoly of the business. Most of the gut is marketed 
through Scotland and England. The gut comes in 
many grades and each grade is subdivided into three 
qualities. The wearing qualities of gut are judged by 
clearness, springiness, and hardness. Good gut should 
feel like wire. It should be perfectly round and have 
the same diameter from end to end. 

^ No matter how perfect the gut may be, a leader 
will be ruined if it is kinked sharply, especially when 
dry. It is a very good thing to soak a leader 
in cold \vater long enough to make it perfectly soft 
and pliable. When a bright, new, dr}^ leader is twist- 
ed to fasten it to the line or the hook, the fibres 
break like glass. Leaders and snells will last and be 
sound if they are put into a basin of water the night 
before use and left there till morning. Do not use hot 
water. 

^ It does not pay to buy gut to make one's own 
leaders. It is much better and cheaper to get leaders 
ready-made, for it requires much skill to make the knots. 



[60] 



BAITS. ^^^ leading bait for local salt water fishing 

is the shedder crab. All fish will take it. 

The shedder is the common blue crab in the stage when 
his shell is splitting, but before it peels entirely and 
leaves him a soft crab. A shedder can always be dis- 
tinguished by pinching the sides of the shell. If the3' 
yield and crack, the crab is good for bait. To use 
him the shell is peeled away from body and claws, un- 
til a perfect crab is left, but without shell. This should 
make six good baits wathout the claws. The latter 
make the best bait of all. When the blue crab is 
ready to shed, he goes into shallow water and hides 
under grass and weed or else clings near the surface to 
spiles and other hiding places, in order to escape the 
fish that hunt him w^hile he is soft. 

^ Another excellent and all around bait is the shrimp 
which is so plentiful that quarts can be obtained by 
dragging a fine-meshed net along spiles or through 
grasses in shallow water. They cling to almost every 
boat float and pier and are most plentiful close in shore 
around spiles about low water. An ordinary long- 
handled net with fine meshes should be rapidly scraped 
along the spiles or grass. Thc}^ must be kept alive. 
Dead shrimp are useless. Thej^ will live for da3's in a 
floating car. The fisherman must take this car in when 
moving the boat or the pressure of the water will kill 
them. When the tide is very swift the car should be 
taken in, as the current swirling through it will force 
all the shrimp to one end of the car where the^^ will 
suffocate. During the height of the tide-rush, it will be 
sufficient to dip the car into the water frequently. 
^ The salt water minnows known as killies are kept in 
the same kind of car. They are hardier than shrimp 
and wnll live hours out of the water if kept cool and 
moist. The best killie is one with a dark green back 
and white belly. Another good one is mottled green 
with yellow on the fins. There is a white killie with 
curious black markings and irregular stripes, known as 

[61] 



the bass killie which is not good at all. It dies al- 
most at once on the hook while the others will live 
indefinitely if used with common care. 

^ With a long-handled net killics can be caught in prac- 
tically everj creek or grassy cove. Look for Ihem in 
shallow water. Even if only a few are in sight, toss 
some bits of clam or fish into the water, and the 
chances are that a good number will gather if j^ou 
keep verj^ quiet. When you have thur ascertained 

that the killies are present, crack a clam, lay it in the 
net and push it out so that the bag of the net will 
lie on the bottom and not wave in the water. Do 
not be in a hurry to lift it. Every killie that enters 
it will attract more. Sometimes half a hundred can be 
taken with one scoop of the net. 

^ The beautiful silver-banded spearing is not easily taken 
for he is too shy and too quick for the scoop net as 
a rule. A long seine is hauled parallel to the shore 
for this bait, and the average fisherman must de]3end on 
bait-catchers for his supply as he will waste too much 
time trying to get them himself. 

^ Sandworms live at low^ w^ater mark in sod banks or 
tough sand. Rocky beaches are the best places. Thev 
can be obtained only at lov^ water and must be dug 
out with spade or fork. Very few sandworms are 
found in the ordinar}' loose sand beaches of the ocean 
shore. The^^ require places with consistency enough to 
give them secure burrows. The same is true of blood- 
worms. The latter are found only on rocky beaches. 
Most fishing tackle dealers keep fresh live worms and 
it pays better to buy them than to search for them. 
^ Bloodworms should be kept in shallow boxes in moist 
and cool sea w^eed. Sandworms should be kept in clean 
dry sand. The}' sicken and die in wet. Both worms 
must be sheltered from wind as well as sun and thev 
should not be kept in cigar or tobacco boxes. Do not 
use pasteboard boxes, either. They will be sure to get 
wet in the boat and fall apart. 

[62] 



^ Fiddler crabs are of several species, almost exactly 
alike except in color. The best is the brightly colored 
kind known as "china-back" which lives on clean sand 
beaches. The darker colored ones live on mud shores 
and sod banks and the blackfish often will refuse to 
touch them when they will take china backs greedily. 
Sometimes, however, the dark ones answer perfectly. 
^ Soft clams are found at low tide in sod banks or 
on muddy bars and on beaches that are either rocky or 
mixed with enough earth to give the clam a firm place 
for a burrow. They betray their presence by squirting 
jets of water into the air when any one approaches. 
They must be dug out with a spade or hoe. 
^ Hard clams live outside of low water mark and can 
be found by "treading"— that is, by wading on the mud 
flats at low water and feeling for them in the mud 
with Ijare feet. 

^ The skimmer clam is found only in the open sea out- 
side of the surf It looks like the hard clam except 
that it is much larger and more flat. It moves around 
by sticking out a wnde fleshy foot, and storms often 
throw it on the beaches in great quantities. 
^ These are the standard baits. The average fisherman 
will not have time to obtain them for himself Shed- 
der crabs, like worms, can be bought from tackle deal- 
ers and in fish markets. Almost all fishing resorts 
have killies, shrimp, clams and sometimes spearing and 
fiddlers on hand. 

^ If through some fatality none of them could be obtained, 
the determined fisherman need not give up, however. If 
he can get mossbunkers, herring, snappers, lafayettes or 
even sea robins, he will have very attractive bait. Lack- 
ing all these, he may still depend on the "horse" mus- 
sels that stick out of every sedgy mud bank in every 
creek. Sometimes they make excellent bait. Once when 
the writer did not have even mussels he gathered half 
a hundred of the little snails that cover all muddy 
bottoms by the million. Cracking the shells with a 

[63] 



hammer he got enough small baits to catch a fair mess 
of tomcods. 

^ Another emergency bait which can be found in quan- 
tities on sand beaches, are the beach fleas, which hop 
about along the line of weed and refuse thrown up by 
the flood tide. Even if they are not in sight they can 
be found generally by digging a few inches deep with a 
stick. They are from % to 1 inch long and make al- 
most as good bait as shrimp. Sometimes fish will pre- 
fer them to anything else. 

^ Under stones and sea weed between lo\v and high 
water marks there is a creature, the gammara, looking 
like a link between the bench flea and the shrimp. It 
tries to work out of sight by wriggling curiously on 
its side, and is easily caught. Three or four will make 
a bait that may do in an emergency. 

^ Small green and red crabs and several species of 
worms besides sand and bloodworms can be found in 
quantities on rocky shores by lifting the stones quickly. 
These are not good baits but better than nothing. 

^ Thus no fisherman need be without bait of some kind 
in any salt water bay or on any ocean beach near 
New York. But for all that, if shedder crab or worms 
cannot be bought before starting on a trip, it is wise 
to stop at a fish dealer's place and buy small fish to 
cut up for bait. Herring, snappers, porgies, lafayette, 
mackerel or smelt will be of service. Sometimes baits 
thus made by cutting up pieces of fish will be more 
attractive than anything else. A 2 inch piece of sea 
robin, skinned so that the silvery flesh shows, will often 
catch fluke, weakfish and bluefish, when they are slow 
about taking hold of ordinary bait. These baits made 
from fish are what is known as "fish bait" Dogfish 
is often used this way. 

^ An almost sure bait is the soft tail of the big her- 
mit crab that lives in conch shells. It is hard to get 
but oystermen sometimes have it. Practically every fish 
will snap at it. It is known as "bank ' lobster." 

[64 1 



The HooKs Sho^tx 

In Thi^ Chart 

Are EjccLCt Si^e. 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



002 897 339 1 




